Space-Based Data Centers: Jeff Bezos Predicts Revolutionary Shift in Computing Infrastructure Within Two Decades

Turin:

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and executive chair, predicted on Friday that gigawatt-scale data centres will become a reality in space within the next 10 to 20 years. He emphasized that these orbital facilities would eventually outperform Earth-based data centres by harnessing the continuous solar energy available in space.

As artificial intelligence and cloud computing usage grows exponentially worldwide, so does the number of massive data centres housing computing infrastructure. This expansion is driving unprecedented demand for electricity and water resources needed to cool server systems.

"One of the things that's going to happen in the next – it's hard to know exactly when, it's 10 plus years, and I bet it's not more than 20 years – we're going to start building these giant gigawatt data centres in space," Bezos explained during a fireside conversation with Ferrari and Stellantis Chairman John Elkann at the Italian Tech Week held in Turin.

The concept of space-based data centres is increasingly gaining interest among major technology companies as Earth-bound operations face mounting energy requirements.

"These giant training clusters, those will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7. There are no clouds and no rain, no weather," Bezos noted. "We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centres in space in the next couple of decades."

Bezos views this transition to orbital infrastructure as part of a larger evolution in utilizing space to enhance life on our planet.

"It already has happened with weather satellites. It has already happened with communication satellites. The next step is going to be data centres and then other kinds of manufacturing," he stated.

Despite the potential advantages, establishing data centres in space presents significant challenges, including difficult maintenance operations, limited upgrade capabilities, high rocket launch expenses, and the inherent risks associated with launch failures.