Google Plans Space-Based AI Data Centers

Google discloses that it intends to establish AI-driven data centers in space to tap solar energy more productively.

Google is planning on expanding its data center strategy out of the planet, and the CEO, Sundar Pichai, confirmed that Google will start building data centers powered by AI out of space. Project Suncatcher aims to harness solar energy to reduce conventional plant power consumption.

Pichai says that Google has two pilot satellites scheduled to launch in early 2027 with satellite company Planet. These will test computer hardware that is meant to run AI workloads in Earth orbit. He estimated that space-based data centers would be a common practice in the next decade as the needs of AI compute keep rising.

Google is not the only participant in the race. Already Nvidia- and Y Combinator-funded startup Starcloud is showcasing the initial AI-powered satellite. The industry leaders feel that the extraterrestrial centers would potentially provide a much reduced carbon output in comparison to the earth-based facilities.

Google has been spending heavily on increasing global capacity, such as the 40 billion investment in Texas recently. However, there are questions regarding the sustainability of AI infrastructure on a massive level. Documents released by the U.S. Department of Energy indicate that the electricity consumption of data centers is growing drastically and it can grow even more by 2028.

Although Google has made its own data center emissions 12% lighter in 2024, the company is increasingly under pressure to match the development of AI with environmental accountability. The space-based architectures can provide a revolutionary direction to sustainable computing at scale as the competition becomes more intense.