SpaceX wants to put data centers in orbit, and Musk says it's no big deal

SpaceX wants to put data centers in orbit, and Elon Musk is pitching it as a near-trivial engineering problem ahead of the company's IPO.

"Part of what we want to convey here is that there is not some magic that is necessary, that doesn't exist," Musk said in a video discussion published by SpaceX. "A lot of this is technology we've already made for the Starlink V3 satellites. We don't think this is a super hard problem compared to the things we already do."

For reference, Musk says the first AI satellite would deliver 150 kilowatts of peak power and 120 kilowatts of sustained compute - comparable to a single Nvidia GB300 rack, which draws about 140 kilowatts. Cooling would come from radiating heat into space. Power would come from solar panels. The factory in Bastrop, Texas, is supposed to hit meaningful production volumes by the end of 2027.

Watch @ElonMusk provide a technical update on SpaceX's capability to manufacture, launch, and operate AI satellites at scale → https://t.co/PSCyWrNsOg pic.twitter.com/vhtr46uax7

- SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 8, 2026