a data center in space
Last week, the news of SpaceX’s IPO sent supply and demand to satellite telecommunications stocks and several aerospace sector stocks. I start to think of why SpaceX is going public. Is it because of the Trump administration’s easing of IPO regulations? Is it to be highly valued in line with the trend of acquiring major tech companies such as OpenAI, Antropic, and Databrix? There are many reasons, but one thing is ‘Obit Data Center’.
It has been argued over the past few years that SpaceX needs to raise money through IPOs because of its core business, “Starlink,” reinvesting in Starlink. In fact, it raised enough funds under the name of Elon Musk and reinvested in Starlink, resulting in a high position in the satellite communication service market. If you think about why this time, there will be an exit cycle for financial investors (FI) nominally. Another reason is that they came up with a new business roadmap. That’s the data center in space orbit.
In a recent interview with Ron Baron, Elon Musk suggested the idea that “high-speed laser links” used by satellite clusters (constellations) for Starlink v3 to connect with each other could form an obit computing cloud for GPU satellites. Elon claims that “starship (SpaceX’s recycled rocket) could expand its AI infrastructure capacity of 100 GW per year in four to five years, assuming other technical obstacles are addressed.”
The advantages of the Orbit data center are clear. The space environment is -270 degrees Celsius, which has a significant cooling advantage. It is capable of uninterrupted solar power generation and has 30% more solar radiation than the ground, which makes power generation efficiency good. The connection distance between satellite infrastructure is also shorter than that of the ground route. As SpaceX has achieved popularization of space launch prices through Starship, it is confident that it can handle multiple launches in order to build large-scale infrastructure in space.
In summary, the Orbit data center has five major technical elements. ①GPU satellite ② high-speed laser link ③ solar power generation ④ ultra-large cooling plate ⑤ space launch system ⑥ maintenance automation system. Among them, Starlink can implement 1, 2, Starship is in charge of 5, 3, 4 requires new vendors, and 6 requires technical challenges. Related stocks are expected to be well organized in the market soon. Vendors and solar panel manufacturers that manufacture high-performance materials-based aerospace components will be the most prominent. However, it should be approached with doubts about the sustainability of the narrative. There are factors both inside and outside the technology, such as conflicts with space regulators in each country, the feasibility of Orbit data center architecture, and the risk of colliding debris in space orbit.