- SpaceX acquires xAI to form new mega-company
- Elon Musk promises to move AI computing power into space
- Experts are divided on whether these ambitious plans will succeed
Elon Musk created the world’s most valuable private company, valued at $1.25 trillion, by merging rocket manufacturing company SpaceX and artificial intelligence developer xAI into a mega-corporation poised to put AI computing into orbit.
SpaceX has now acquired xAI, to create “the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth” – according to the official press release written by Elon Musk himself, CEO of both companies.
This follows the weekend’s announcement that SpaceX plans to launch up to a million satellites into space in the coming years, ready to move AI computing infrastructure from the ground to orbit.
With unlimited space in space and power provided by solar power – at least in theory – the idea is that our ever-increasing needs for AI capabilities could be met by moving the background of operations out of Earth’s atmosphere.
To the stars
“In the long term, spatial AI is obviously the only way to scale,” says Musk. “Harnessing even one millionth of the energy of our Sun would require more than a million times more energy than that currently used by our civilization!”
The solution would apparently be to create a “sentient sun” in space with constellations of satellites, according to Musk. These efforts will leverage all of SpaceX’s expertise and technologies currently used for Starlink satellites and Falcon rockets.
Future Starship rocket launches are expected to put more and more computing power into orbit, and the goal is to launch a terawatt of AI computing capacity each year. Ultimately, installations on the Moon are also planned.
“The capabilities we unlock by making space data centers a reality will fund and enable self-growing bases on the Moon, an entire civilization on Mars, and ultimately expansion into the Universe,” Musk concludes.
Do the numbers add up?
According to Reuters, the deal could still attract the attention of regulators, ahead of a planned Initial Public Offering for SpaceX. However, analysts believe the deal makes sense – combining revenue from space operations and AI.
Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown, told the BBC the merger combined “two incredibly revolutionary technologies” but warned users on planet Earth would not see any benefits for at least a decade.
Elon Musk isn’t the only one who thinks the future of AI data centers lies in space: Google, Amazon and Nvidia are among the big tech companies that have backed the idea, with Google planning a first launch sometime in 2027.
However, not everyone is convinced the numbers add up. Space economist Pierre Lionnet of Eurospace told the New York Times that the idea that the costs of operating space would fall enough to allow this work to be done was “completely absurd.”
Phil Metzger, a physics professor at the University of Central Florida, is more optimistic about the short-term economic sense. “In business terms, it’s plausible,” he told the New York Times. “This has been an evolving discussion.”
In other words, while this ambitious plan still has a long way to go, AI’s orbital data centers are preparing to take off – and a new space race is brewing.
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