AI’s power hunger sparks race for space data centres, but costs remain 3 times higher than Earth
As artificial Intelligence drives an unprecedented surge in computing demand, SpaceX and xAI have announced plans to deploy 100 GW of orbital computing capacity annually — ten times the combined announced pipeline of all other orbital data centre developers globally — highlighting growing industry interest in moving data infrastructure beyond Earth.
But despite the momentum, the economics remain daunting, with a hypothetical 1 GW orbital data centre estimated to cost $170 billion, more than three times the cost of an equivalent terrestrial facility, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie.
