en.Wedoany.com Reported - Google is in negotiations with SpaceX on a rocket launch agreement to advance its plan to deploy data centers into Earth orbit. Following Anthropic's computing power partnership with SpaceX, another tech giant is setting its sights on extraterrestrial AI computing infrastructure. Amid increasingly strained global power and land resources, orbital data centers are accelerating from a sci-fi concept toward commercial competition.

Google has already begun independent deployment in the orbital computing field. The company launched "Project Suncatcher" last year, planning to launch prototype satellites by 2027 to test the effectiveness of machine learning in space. Google is also collaborating with satellite imagery company Planet Labs to build related equipment, which is still in the early R&D phase. Regarding launch services, Google is simultaneously engaging with other rocket launch companies to maintain flexibility in supplier selection. Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated clearly in an interview last November: "We will send mini-racks into space, test them on satellites, and then gradually scale up. I have no doubt that in about a decade, people will view this as a conventional way to build data centers."

Orbital data centers can bypass the dual bottlenecks of land occupation and power consumption faced by terrestrial data centers. By design, such facilities are directly powered by solar panels and utilize the vacuum environment of space to assist with heat dissipation. However, this technological path still presents a series of critical engineering challenges, including how to mass-manufacture and launch large quantities of equipment at controllable costs, how to manage precision temperature control systems in a vacuum environment, and how to address major challenges such as space radiation and maintenance difficulties.

Orbital data centers have become one of the core narratives SpaceX emphasizes to investors ahead of its IPO. SpaceX plans to conduct its initial public offering later this year, with a valuation target of approximately $1.75 trillion, making it one of the largest IPOs globally. Previously, Anthropic announced an agreement with SpaceX to utilize the full computing capacity of SpaceX's xAI Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee, gaining over 300 megawatts of additional computing power and deploying over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs. As part of this agreement, Anthropic also expressed its intention to cooperate with SpaceX in the orbital data center field.

Deep capital ties exist between Google and SpaceX. Google is an early investor in SpaceX, currently holding approximately 6.1% of the company's shares; Don Harrison, Google's President of Global Partnerships, also serves on SpaceX's board of directors. To support the grand vision of orbital data centers, SpaceX has submitted applications to federal regulators, planning to launch up to 1 million satellites. During its IPO preparations, the company completed the acquisition of xAI, with the combined entity valued at $1.25 trillion, and announced multi-billion dollar infrastructure investment plans.

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