Why Google and SpaceX Are Testing AI in Orbit: The Earthly Grid Can't Keep Up. -- Barrons.com

By Nate Wolf and Al Root

Alphabet and SpaceX might be becoming AI frenemies. Both want to dominate AI markets, but SpaceX isn't above giving a hand to the search giant.

Google is sending artificial-intelligence chips into orbit next week in an early test of space-based data centers. The experiment could have significant implications for Google parent Alphabet and its launch partner, SpaceX.

Google will use a prototype satellite to examine how its in-house Tensor Processing Unit chips, or TPUs, perform in space, where solar radiation can make computers behave in unexpected ways.

SpaceX will send the satellite into orbit as part of its Transporter 18 launch, which is scheduled to depart Southern California on Oct. 1, according to multiple spaceflight databases. SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment about the launch.

SpaceX supplying the ride to space might surprise some investors. Operating solar-powered data centers in space-where land, energy, and community resistance aren't limitations-has become a primary goal for SpaceX and its founder Elon Musk. His rocket company plans to launch its own AI computing satellites as soon as 2027 on the huge, fully reusable Starship rocket.

To be sure, SpaceX isn't above helping a competitor. It launches satellites for Amazon.com, which wants to compete with SpaceX's Starlink. Alphabet is also paying almost $1 billion a month to access SpaceX's AI computing capacity.

Investors have doubted that space-based AI computing will be cheaper than terrestrial data centers. Space offers free power, but cooling in a vacuum, servicing satellites, and space radiation are all issues to overcome. Still, SpaceX isn't the only one thinking about orbital compute. Google unveiled its "research moonshot," called Project Suncatcher, last year to bring its own AI computers into space.

Next week's launch will test whether TPUs can withstand the intense 10-minute flight into low Earth orbit and the level of radiation beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Google will also evaluate ways to cool the TPUs in an environment without airflow.

Alphabet shares were up 0.2% in early trading Thursday. SpaceX stock slipped 0.9%. The S&P 500 was off 0.4%.

The benefit of free power shouldn't be understated. Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Byrd sees AI power demand growing to almost 100 gigawatts by 2028. Total U.S. electricity-generating capacity is roughly 1,300 gigawatts. Byrd's number represents about 8% of the current total U.S. capacity.

Google is planning to put two satellites into orbit in 2027 after the initial prototype. The company eventually wants to connect multiple groups of satellites that can manage large AI workloads together, but it is urging patience.

"Exploring space as a viable location for scalable AI compute won't happen all at once," the company wrote in a blog post Thursday. "This first launch is about seeing what works, identifying points of failure, and applying those findings to future missions."

SpaceX operates at a different scale, with less patience. It plans to operate up to a million, yes, a million, AI satellites. Its dominant launch franchise enables that ambition. SpaceX handles the majority of the world's space-launch needs. It also operates more than 10,000 satellites for its Starlink communications business.

Starship will extend the company's advantage. The next test for that launch system is slated for Sept. 28.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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September 24, 2026 12:04 ET (16:04 GMT)