Kamal Ghorui
Elon Musk has responded to a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that highlighted comments by Google CEO Sundar Pichai on the future of data centres. The post, shared by Peter H. Diamandis, executive chairman at XPRIZE, claimed that data centres in space could become “the new normal” within a decade — a view that Musk has spoken about in the past. Reacting to the post, Musk simply replied, “true”. The original post said: “Sundar Pichai just said data centers in space will be “the new normal” within a decade. @elonmusk has been saying this for years”.The post further stated: “When the CEO of Google starts agreeing with Elon, pay attention. The orbital compute era is closer than you think.”While Pichai has not detailed a specific timeline publicly in the same context, the idea of using space infrastructure for computing has been discussed more frequently as demand for data processing grows.
What are space-based data centres
The concept of data centres in space involves placing computing infrastructure in orbit instead of on Earth. These systems could potentially use solar power directly and reduce the need for large land-based facilities. Supporters of the idea say it could help address issues such as energy consumption and cooling, which are major challenges for traditional data centres.However, the concept is still at an early stage and would require major advances in technology, cost reduction and infrastructure.
Elon Musk’s long-standing view on space-based data centres
This is not the first time when Musk has replied to Pichai’s space data centre plans. In an interview with Fox News last year, Sundar Pichai said that Google is working on quantum computing, adding “in that spirit, one of our moon shots is to, how do we one day have data centers in space so that we can better harness the energy from the sun”. Pichai further said that the company wants to “put these data centers in space closer to the sun”, and will take “first step in 2027”. Elon Musk then replied to the post with a single word writing “Interesting”.Musk has previously spoken about using space for large-scale infrastructure, including satellites and computing systems. His company SpaceX has already launched thousands of satellites as part of its Starlink project.
