SpaceX and China Vie for Dominance in Orbital AI Data Centers

Generative AI is driving up data-center power demand and cooling requirements. Global data-center electricity consumption is forecast to double by 2030 and could account for one-tenth of worldwide usage by 2050, while North America alone will need an additional 50–100 GW over the next three years. SpaceX, Amazon and Chinese companies are therefore racing to develop orbital computing as they compete for control of future networks and data.

SpaceX applied to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on January 30, 2026, to deploy as many as 1 million computing satellites in low Earth orbit at altitudes of 500–2,000 kilometers. Beijing Guidao Chenguang completed a RMB170 million Pre-A1 funding round on April 20 and secured expressions of intent from 12 banks for RMB57.7 billion in credit facilities. It plans to build a large-scale space data center by 2035.