- Bezos envisions orbital data centers powered by constant sunlight beyond Earth's atmosphere
- The plan promises endless energy and no clouds or weather disturbances.
- Launching and maintaining space servers could cost billions of dollars if missions fail
Jeff Bezos has outlined a future in which data center operations can no longer be grounded.
Speaking at Italian Technology Week, Amazon founder described the potential transition to orbital computing infrastructure.
He suggested that within two decades gigawatt-scale installations could operate in space using uninterrupted solar energy.
The New Frontier of Computing Power
The idea is based on the argument that space offers benefits that cannot be matched by anything on land.
This includes constant sunlight, no weather conditions, and theoretically unlimited electricity production.
Bezos said that “giant learning clusters” for Artificial Intelligence Tools It would be better to be located outside the Earth's atmosphere, where cooling and energy supplies are less limited.
In a public conversation with Ferrari and Stellantis chairman John Elkann, Bezos said: “These giant training clusters are better built in space because we have solar power there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are no clouds, no rain, no weather.”
“In the next couple of decades, we will be able to surpass the cost of ground-based data centers in space.”
This premise relies on the huge energy demands of artificial intelligence, especially GPU clusters used to train large-scale models.
Since data centers on Earth consume enormous amounts of electricity and water, the concept of orbital facilities offers a possible solution to growing sustainability challenges.
Bezos predicted that the cost of operating these space systems could eventually reduce the cost of operating Earth-based systems.
However, this vision raises technical and economic questions. Maintaining data centers in orbit presents challenges that require attention.
Hardware failures, upgrades, and the need for human or robotic maintenance will all be costly and risky.
Each launch will depend on expensive and complex rocket missions, and even small failures can compromise large-scale systems.
Critics may view this as an idealistic project that underestimates the logistics of maintaining critical computing infrastructure in an environment where spare parts are hundreds of miles away.
Observers see Bezos' own Blue Origin rockets as a potential enabler of this shift, although the company has yet to demonstrate the reliability or power needed for continued orbital construction.
This plan will require not only reusable rockets, but also highly autonomous systems capable of thermal regulation and communications between Earth and orbital clusters.
Bezos compared the continued growth of AI to the dot-com era, suggesting that despite the risk of speculative bubbles, AI's impact on society will be lasting.
His remarks reflected both optimism and caution, as he urged that short-term market volatility not overshadow the technology's long-term prospects.
By using Reuters
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