- Google and SpaceX are reportedly in talks over data centers in orbit
- It’s the infrastructure that many big tech companies are investing in
- However, there are concerns over how feasible the technology actually is
There’s a lot of effort and money going into plans to put data centers in space — mostly to meet the growing demands of AI processing — and Google and SpaceX are now reportedly in talks to clutter up Earth’s orbit even further.
As per The Wall Street Journal and “people familiar with the discussions”, talks are underway between the two giant tech companies. Google would provide the data centers, and SpaceX would provide the rockets to get them where they need to be.
There’s not a lot of other detail here, although the report says Google is discussing its options with “other rocket-launch companies”. It’s a sensitive time for SpaceX, with an IPO expected in just a few months, and deals like this would certainly do no harm as far as the company’s valuation goes.
It’s also worth noting that Google owns 6.1% of SpaceX. Google has made no secret of its plans to put data centers up in space: “There’s no doubt to me that a decade or so away, we’ll be viewing it as a more normal way to build data centers,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told Fox News in an interview last November.
But can it work?
Given that so many big companies are investing in this technology, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s all ready to go — but that’s not quite the case.
As it stands, the tech isn’t currently available due to various engineering challenges, and people like OpenAI’s Sam Altman don’t think this is a feasible idea in the short-term.
On the plus side: there’s a lot of room up in space (though not quite as much as there used to be), and a lot of power, thanks to the constant availability of solar energy. It wouldn’t be necessary to disrupt neighborhoods or overload power grids every time a giant new data center needed to be built.
However, this is also incredibly costly and incredibly difficult from a technical perspective. Current data center technology isn’t built to withstand the extremes of space, and there’s also the question of how repairs can be carried out in orbit.
For those who fully believe in the future of the technology, those problems can be overcome given time, funding, and further research. However, it’s going to be a while before we see this working at scale.
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