Musk Promotes Space Computing Center, Plans to Deploy Up to 1 Million Satellites to Build Space Computing Network
Elon Musk is advancing the orbital AI data center plan through SpaceX, aiming to deploy up to 1 million satellites to build a space computing network.
SpaceX has submitted an application to the FCC and unveiled the design of the first-generation AI1 satellite, which has a wingspan of about 70 meters, continuous computing power of about 120 kW, and peak power of 150 kW, relying on solar energy and radiation cooling.
Musk emphasized that the space cooling and power supply technology has matured based on Starlink experience, requiring no "magic," with the goal of achieving large-scale deployment within a few years.
Previously, experts generally believed that space cooling was unfeasible, but current related doubts have significantly decreased.
This plan runs parallel to the merger with xAI and the expansion of ground supercomputing, aiming to break through the bottlenecks of terrestrial power and cooling.
From a market mechanism perspective, this event accelerates capital flow towards orbital infrastructure, putting pressure on traditional ground data centers, with beneficiaries being entities capable of launching and mass-producing satellites.
Source: Public Information
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Musk has already disrupted the century-old pattern of fuel vehicles through Tesla and early promoted ChatGPT's change in AI trajectory through OpenAI. He is now extending computing power from the ground to space, forming a cross-domain continuous disruption.
In terms of capital pathways, SpaceX will transform its launch capabilities and satellite mass production experience into orbital computing assets, shifting funds from terrestrial power grids and cooling systems to space solar energy and radiation cooling, aiming to capture the long-term demand for AI computing power.
Similar cases can be seen in the early satellite internet evolving from impossible to the scale of Starlink, and ground supercomputing moving from skepticism to mainstream; it is currently in the stage of moving from concept validation to regulatory application and prototype design.
The structural judgment belongs to technological substitution: space computing replaces terrestrial power and water resource constraints with unlimited solar energy and vacuum cooling, transferring pricing power from land-based infrastructure to orbital deployment, and significantly reducing launch costs through reusable rockets.
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Ground bottlenecks will ultimately send computing power to space.