The race to put AI data centers in orbit is picking up momentum

[CarlosBuddle]

The idea of building AI data centers in space is gaining real momentum as AI drives unprecedented demand for compute. The pitch is that orbital facilities could tap abundant solar energy and dodge a lot of the environmental headaches on the ground, like water use and land constraints. It sounds like science fiction until you look at how power constrained terrestrial data centers are getting

The driver is that AI wants more of everything, more chips, more real estate, more power, more water. On Earth those are running into hard limits and local opposition. Space sidesteps some of those, with constant solar and no neighbors to complain about cooling towers

There are obvious enormous hurdles, launch cost, cooling in vacuum, radiation, maintenance, and latency for anything interactive. The concept is early and speculative and nobody should pretend otherwise. But the fact that serious infrastructure people are seriously discussing it tells you how desperate the power situation is becoming

My honest take is that orbital compute is probably a decade plus away from being practical if it ever is, but the conversation itself is the signal. When you are seriously proposing to launch data centers into space, you are admitting the terrestrial buildout is hitting walls. This is the physical phase of the AI boom in its most extreme form

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