Jeff Bezos has weighed in on the race to build data centres in outer space, offering a mix of validation and skepticism toward the proposed timelines pushed by his tech industry rivals. Speaking with CNBC in a recent interview, the Amazon founder and Blue Origin creator stated that moving data centres into Earth's orbit is a very realistic long-term outcome for the tech sector. However, the billionaire warned that the publicised timelines currently being discussed by other industry leaders are far too optimistic.
"Some of the timelines we hear are very short. People would talk about two or three years. That's probably a little ambitious," Bezos noted.
Why tech companies are looking for data centres in space
The concept of orbital data centres has rapidly shifted from science fiction to an active corporate battleground. Tech companies are moving ahead with creating data centres but are met with resistance due to the adverse effects on the power grid and water resources – both needed to keep the centres running efficiently. Notably, companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon have already signed a White House agreement to finance and build their own electricity generation and infrastructure for their data centers. At the same time, these companies have also struck deals for nuclear power generation.
Where Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Sundar Pichai agree
Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai view space as the ultimate solution to the terrestrial AI crisis. Building data centres in orbit offers three massive advantages: continuous access to solar energy, a permanent solution to the shrinking availability of land, and the water needed to cool massive data sites on Earth, thanks to sub-zero temperatures.
Where Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Sundar Pichai disagree
Musk has moved aggressively, stating that building orbital data centers will be done in 2-3 years. "[The] net effect is that the lowest cost place to put AI will be space and that'll be true within two years maybe three at the latest," he said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 22. Meanwhile, Google has also announced Project Suncatcher, aiming to launch two prototype satellites in partnership with Planet Labs to test hardware in orbit.
According to Bezos, two primary economic roadblocks are being overlooked in the current cycle. He said that modern artificial intelligence (AI) chips require massive, highly concentrated energy resources. Bezos emphasised that before space data centres can become financially viable, the manufacturing and power costs of these specialised chips must come down to leave room in corporate infrastructure budgets.
Secondly, even with reusable rockets, launching heavy data server stacks into orbit remains incredibly expensive. Bezos stressed that launch costs must drop significantly further before mass deployment becomes sustainable.
Despite his cautious timeline, Bezos quietly positioned Blue Origin to compete directly for the orbital cloud market. In March, Blue Origin submitted a regulatory filing to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outlining plans to launch a massive constellation of 51,600 data center satellites into low Earth orbit under Project Sunrise.
