SpaceX IPO: Google Partnership Talks Over Orbital Data Centers Bolster $2 Trillion Valuation Goal

Judging from industry statements, orbital data centers will be a key form of future data centers. Industry insiders believe this is expected to address the growing power demands brought about by the booming development of AI.

Musk stated in February that in the short term, terrestrial solutions simply cannot meet global AI power demands without burdening communities and the environment. In the long term, AI based on orbital data centers is clearly the only path to achieving scale to solve power needs.

Analysis points out that orbital data centers deployed in space can not only receive higher-intensity, year-round uninterrupted solar radiation—eliminating the need for expensive batteries while keeping continuous power available at all times—but also possess natural heat dissipation advantages, which defines their inherent superiority over terrestrial data centers.

Google's CEO once stated that space data centers will become commonplace in ten years. At the end of last year, Google announced the launch of its partnership with Planet Labs (PL) on 'Project Suncatcher,' which plans to use satellites equipped with Google TPUs to build data centers. Google's ultimate vision is to jointly build a satellite constellation of 81 satellites with Planet Labs.

To realize the vision of orbital data centers, SpaceX submitted a license application in February to launch as many as 1 million satellites to serve as data centers. SpaceX has also partnered with Tesla (TSLA) to launch the chip manufacturing project Terafab, aiming to achieve self-sufficiency in chip production and reduce costs.

Last week, SpaceX announced a partnership agreement with AI company Anthropic to provide 300,000 megawatts of additional computing capacity by the end of May; in return, Anthropic expressed its intention to cooperate with SpaceX on orbital data centers.

Prior to the negotiations for this partnership, Google was already one of SpaceX's primary investors, holding a stake of approximately 6%. This represents not only a collaboration on space projects but also a strategic alignment of value between the two tech giants.

Regarding computing power, SpaceX will gain support from Anthropic Claude and Google Gemini—both in the top tier of large language model capabilities—dispelling market concerns that xAI’s Grok might not sufficiently justify its valuation. Previously, a major concern on Wall Street regarding a potential SpaceX IPO was that Elon Musk might divert SpaceX resources to subsidize xAI, which would be detrimental to SpaceX’s financial and strategic prospects. This partnership in the large model space signals that Musk’s personal interests will not impede SpaceX's growth.

As one of the "Big Three" cloud service providers, Google's partnership validates that orbital data centers are more than just a pipe dream for SpaceX; they represent a consensus across Silicon Valley on the future trajectory of AI infrastructure. Furthermore, Google’s "Project Sun Catcher" demonstrates the company's substantial demand for launches. Establishing a stable partnership would provide SpaceX’s Starship with a steady, long-term pipeline of orders, reducing amortized costs and ultimately proving the viability of its commercial roadmap.

This content was translated using AI and reviewed for clarity. It is for informational purposes only.