Jeff Bezos envisions Gigawatt-Scale data centres in space

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has predicted that gigawatt-scale data centres could be established in space within the next 10 to 20 years, driven by the continuous availability of solar energy that could eventually outperform terrestrial facilities.

Speaking at the Italian Tech Week in Turin, Bezos compared the current surge in artificial intelligence (AI) to the internet boom of the early 2000s. He urged optimism despite the risks of speculative bubbles, emphasizing the long-term benefits of emerging technologies.

“These giant training clusters will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7. There are no clouds, no rain, no weather,” Bezos said during a public conversation with Ferrari and Stellantis Chairman John Elkann. “We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centres in space in the next couple of decades.”

The concept of orbital data centres is gaining traction among tech companies as terrestrial facilities increasingly drive up electricity and water demand for cooling purposes. Bezos suggested that the shift to space infrastructure represents a broader trend of leveraging space to improve life on Earth. “It’s already happened with weather and communication satellites. The next step is data centres, then other kinds of manufacturing,” he added.

However, hosting data centres in space comes with its own set of challenges. These include the difficulty of maintenance, carrying out upgrades, high rocket launch costs, and the inherent risk of launch failures. On AI, Bezos noted parallels with the dot-com era, highlighting the potential for hype and crashes but stressing the enduring societal benefits. “We should be extremely optimistic that the societal and beneficial consequences of AI, like we had with the internet 25 years ago, are for real and there to stay,” he said.

Bezos further cautioned that it is important to separate the short-term speculative bubbles from the long-term reality of AI’s impact. He predicted that the benefits of AI would be “broadly diffused and it will go everywhere.” As tech giants explore the feasibility of space-based infrastructure, Bezos's vision underscores the potential of space technology to address Earth's growing energy and resource challenges.