Terrestrial Energy

Google's head of data center energy said this week that data centers in space could cost up to 100 times as much as those on Earth, urging that terrestrial options be explored first. The comment is notable because Google itself is testing AI server chips in orbit, making it a striking reality check on the growing hype around orbital computing infrastructure.

Google has reportedly scored a significant breakthrough in its effort to move data centers into space, according to coverage by PCMag. The project envisions operating computing infrastructure off Earth, potentially reducing energy and land constraints faced by terrestrial data centers. Details beyond the headline are limited, and the specific nature of the win has not been elaborated in the available coverage.

SpaceX has reportedly committed to a $40 billion lease of NVIDIA GPUs to build out terrestrial artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to an industry report. The deal would mark a major expansion beyond the company's launch and satellite businesses, pairing its energy and data-centre ambitions with NVIDIA hardware, and adds to the wave of large-scale AI compute commitments across the tech sector.

Cowboy Space has revealed a new heavy-lift rocket, referred to as 'Big Iron', designed to launch data center hardware into orbit. Details on specifications, launch dates, and customers remain limited so far. The announcement feeds into growing interest in orbital data centers as a potential answer to rising energy and land constraints for terrestrial computing infrastructure.