- Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to launch satellites that serve as data centers into space.
- Putting data centers in space is not currently possible, said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
- He called the idea “ridiculous” during an event in New Delhi.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman famously don’t agree on much.
The latest point of contention: data centers in space. Musk has made it a priority. Altman believes this is a fantasy, at least for now.
“I honestly think the idea of putting data centers in the existing space is ridiculous,” Altman said during a live interview with local media in New Delhi on Friday, drawing laughter from the audience.
Orbital data centers “may make sense one day,” Altman said, but factors such as launch costs and the difficulty of repairing a computer chip in space remain formidable obstacles.
“We’re not there yet,” Altman added. “There will be a time. Space is great for a lot of things. Orbital data centers won’t be widely relevant this decade.”
Musk will almost certainly disagree.
While many big tech and AI companies are spending billions building data centers on Earth, Musk has his eyes on the stars, as usual. Orbital data centers are his latest ambition, he mentioned at the XAI all-hands meeting in December.
In February, SpaceX said its goal was to launch “a constellation of one million satellites that will serve as orbital data centers.” The company has already started hiring engineers to make this happen.
During a comprehensive meeting with xAI employees this month, Musk said that SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI will allow them to deploy orbital data centers faster.
Despite Altman’s skepticism, other technology leaders are also racing to establish data centers in space. Google’s Suncatcher project, unveiled in November 2025, aims to achieve this. Google CEO Sundar Pichai told Fox News Sunday that the company could start putting data centers — powered by solar energy — in space as early as 2027.
Technology and AI companies rely on data centers to power their products, such as large language models and chatbots. However, these data centers can drain water resources, strain power grids, increase pollution, and reduce the overall quality of life.
that Investigation by Business Insider The publication last year found that more than 1,200 data centers had been approved for construction across the United States by the end of 2024, nearly four times the number in 2010.
Now, proposed data centers in Texas, Oklahoma and elsewhere are facing stiff resistance from local communities.
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