No one wants AI data centers on Earth. Do they make sense in space?

SpaceX Executives ring the Closing Bell at the Nasdaq on the debut of their IPO on June 12th, 2026. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Following the astronomical success of the SpaceX IPO — raising $85.7 billion, valuing the newly public company in the trillions, and minting Elon Musk as the world's first trillionaire — what many skeptics still view as a pie-in-the-sky idea , building AI data centers in space, is coming into view. There is good reason for the skepticism, but the concept has potentially moved onto at least a more plausible path as a result of the SpaceX windfall. SpaceX has reliable, reusable Falcon rockets — and a more powerful one in the wings — while its xAI has an insatiable need for compute power and its space-based internet service, Starlink, has upgradeable satellites. Now the interconnected entity's engineering and technology has billions in new capital necessary to bring those components together in space, not only to feed SpaceX's massive internal AI operations but also to provide commercial services for an array of paying customers such as Anthropic . Some investors contend the company has no choice but to make the idea work if it hopes to justify its public market valuations over time. "The company comes down to data centers in space," Duncan Davidson, a partner at Bullpen Capital, said on CNBC's "The Exchange" the week before the IPO. …