Lift Off: CEOs Back Solar-Powered Data Centres in Space

Data centres in space might sound like science fiction, but some of the tech industry’s most high-profile leaders are treating it as the next logical step in infrastructure development. 

Executives at Google, SpaceX, Amazon and Nvidia are pushing the case for off-planet data facilities, citing power, cooling and compute scalability as key reasons for moving beyond Earth.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, is among those who say it is no longer far-fetched. Speaking on the company’s Google AI: Release Notes podcast, Sundar said: “When you truly step back and envision the amount of compute we’re going to need, it starts making sense and it’s a matter of time.”

He was referring to Google’s internal initiative, Project Suncatcher, which aims to deploy solar-powered satellite constellations equipped with Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and connected via free-space optical links. 

The goal is to scale AI compute workloads in orbit, rather than build out capacity on Earth.

Google says its research shows that space launch costs are falling fast enough that, by the mid-2030s, the running cost of orbital data centres could be competitive with terrestrial ones. 

The company’s concept involves clusters of around 80 satellites positioned about 400 miles above the Earth’s surface.

While no firm deployment timeline has been confirmed, Sundar said: “In 2027, hopefully we’ll have a TPU somewhere in space.” 

However, he also acknowledged the technical hurdles involved, including thermal management, high-bandwidth ground communication and reliability of orbital systems.

Starship and gigawatt-scale orbital compute

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has also outlined ambitions to support data centre deployment in space through his Starship programme – a fully reusable space launch system designed for both cargo and crew missions. 

Starship is billed as the most powerful launch vehicle ever built and Musk believes it could enable delivery of AI-specific satellite infrastructure on an unprecedented scale.

Posting on X earlier this month, Elon wrote: “Starship should be able to deliver around 300GW per year of solar-powered AI satellites to orbit, maybe 500GW. The ‘per year’ part is what makes this such a big deal.”

That level of power dwarfs existing terrestrial capacity – Goldman Sachs estimates that current global data centre capacity is around 59GW.

Gigawatt-scale orbital compute has also been endorsed by Amazon founder and current Executive Chair, Jeff Bezos. 

Speaking at Italian Tech Week in Turin, Jeff said: “We’re going to start building these gigawatt data centres in space. It has already happened with weather satellites. It has already happened with communication satellites. The next step is going to be data centres.”

He added that space-based infrastructure will eventually outperform Earth-based sites, thanks to consistent access to solar energy and no interference from weather systems.

From lunar landers to orbital AI

Startups are also entering the space data centre race.

Florida-based Lonestar Data Holdings has tested a prototype the size of a hardback book on a mission to the Moon, in partnership with Intuitive Machines’ Athena Lunar Lander. 

The company sees low-Earth orbit and lunar deployments as viable options for secure data storage and processing.

“The way we see it is that by putting up the data centre in space, you’re really offering unparalleled security,” a company spokesperson told the BBC.

Another firm, UK-registered startup Starcloud, has launched Nvidia AI chips into space in partnership with the GPU maker.

Its Co-Founder and CEO, Philip Johnston, said: “In space, you get almost unlimited, low-cost renewable energy. The only cost on the environment will be on the launch, then there will be 10 times carbon dioxide savings over the life of the data centre compared with powering the data centre terrestrially.”

His remarks highlight one of the main appeals of space-based infrastructure: sustainable operation using uninterrupted solar power. 

The environmental cost is concentrated during the launch phase, but ongoing operations benefit from high energy efficiency and isolation from terrestrial climate systems.

Space infrastructure for future workloads

Although orbital data centres remain in the early stages of testing and concept development, the potential is attracting serious interest. Global demand for AI compute and real-time data processing is growing exponentially and Earth-based data centres are already facing power limitations, land scarcity and cooling concerns.

For the data centre industry, space may offer a long-term path to sustainable, high-density compute infrastructure. The next few years could see key experiments – like Google’s proposed TPU deployment – determining whether orbital infrastructure can evolve from concept to commercial viability.

What was once a far-off idea is now being taken seriously by some of the most influential technology leaders.