Google negotiates with SpaceX for orbital data centres dedicated to AI

The Wall Street Journal had launched the indiscretion. And now there is also confirmation from Google, which has admitted that it is in talks with SpaceX and other operators for possible future launches linked to Project Suncatcher, the programme with which the company is studying orbital data centres powered by solar energy. The goal is to create a network of satellites equipped with Tensor Processing Units (the chips used by Google for artificial intelligence), transforming Earth orbit into a sort of cloud distributed in space.

An ambitious project, in short. Not least because, according to the company, the first prototype should be launched around 2027 together with Planet Labs.

The news in the news, however, is another. And that is the confirmation that technology bigwigs are considering new infrastructures to support the growing energy and computational demands of AI. And they are doing so by looking to space.

For SpaceX, a possible agreement with Google would also have strategic value. Elon Musk's company is investing more and more in the idea of space data centres, a sector that requires enormous capital and that could become one of the pillars of the company's future listing on the stock exchange (planned for this 2026 in any case).

The relationship between Musk and Google has historically been complex on the AI front. Musk contributed to the birth of OpenAI in 2015 partly as a response to Google's dominance in artificial intelligence, before walking away from the project. Today, however, SpaceX and Google find themselves exploring the same market. And above all, Musk has a declared enemy: OpenAI and Sam Altman. We will see if the relationship with Google will grow on this track as well.