Speaking at Italian Tech Week in Turin during a conversation with John Elkann, chairman of Ferrari and Stellantis, Bezos commented that it’s highly likely we will see massive gigawatt-scale data centres powered by space-based solar energy will be operating in orbit within the next 10 to 20 years.
Data centres currently consume nearly 1.5% of the world’s electricity, a figure expected to nearly double to 3% by 2030, demanding roughly 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually. This surge is largely fuelled by the explosion of AI, which requires vast computational power. Bezos argues that terrestrial energy sources alone will not keep pace with this growth, but space-based solar power could offer an alternative.
“Solar farms on Earth suffer from nighttime darkness, clouds, and rain,” Bezos explained during his conversation with John Elkann, chairman of Ferrari. “But solar panels placed in orbit can generate continuous power 24/7.”
This uninterrupted access to sunlight means space-based solar arrays could provide a steady and reliable power supply for energy-intensive data centres, without the weather-related downtime that plagues Earth-bound solar installations.
“These giant training clusters, those will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7. There are no clouds and no rain, no weather,” he commented.
“We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centres in space in the next couple of decades,” Bezos said confidently.
Weather satellites, which provide the data for accurate forecasts, and communication satellites, which enable global internet and telecommunications, are prime examples of how space assets enhance daily life.
“It already has happened with weather satellites. It already happened with communication satellites. The next step is going to be data centres and then other kinds of manufacturing,” Bezos said.
“It’s hard to know exactly when, it’s 10 plus years – and I bet it’s not more than 20 years,” Bezos concluded.
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