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Tom’s Hardware
Tom’s Hardware
Technology
Jowi Morales

SpaceX acquires xAI in a bid to make orbiting data centers a reality — Musk plans to launch a million tons of satellites annually, targets 1TW/year of space-based compute capacity

SpaceX Starship reusable rocket.

SpaceX has officially announced its acquisition of xAI, allowing the two companies to vertically integrate their operations and help Elon Musk achieve his dream of artificial intelligence in space. According to the company’s announcement, space is the only logical solution to scaling AI data centers, as we do not have enough resources on Earth to power these systems.

“Current advances in AI are dependent on large terrestrial data centers, which require immense amounts of power and cooling. Global electricity demand for AI simply cannot be met with terrestrial solutions, even in the near term, without imposing hardship on communities and the environment,” the company said in its statement. “In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale. To harness even a millionth of our Sun’s energy would require over a million times more energy than our civilization currently uses!”

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