Will Putting AI Data Centers in Space Actually Work?: QuickTake

SpaceX’s eye-watering plans for a more than $30 billion initial public offering in 2026 revolve around raising capital for Elon Musk’s latest grand vision: putting a vast array of data centers into space.

It sounds like a plan out of science fiction, but it’s not just Musk who envisions a future where data centers orbiting Earth do complex computing for artificial intelligence. Rival space billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin LLC, has spoken frequently in recent months of developing this technology, and former chief executive officer of Google, Eric Schmidt, purchased ...