NVIDIA's AI chips will witness their first 'outer space' debut soon, as the AI startup Starcloud plans to launch data centers out of Earth, claiming to yield tremendous benefits.
NVIDIA's H100 Will Deliver Up To 100x Higher Compute Than Any Other Space-Based Operation Out There
Well, data center expansion on planet Earth is moving at a massive pace, with Big Tech being involved in deploying 'multi-GW' AI facilities all across the world. While this buildout certainly gives the world enormous computing power, it does come with rather 'important' tradeoffs, whether it is growing electricity requirements and the land usage, which means that the approach adopted by firms out there isn't sustainable. However, the startup Starcloud has a promising solution to this problem, which involves building data centers in Earth's orbit, and NVIDIA appears to be on board with the firm.
Team Green has mentioned Starcloud in a dedicated blog post, celebrating the firm's upcoming launch, which will feature the H100 AI GPUs deployed in the 60-kilogram Starcloud-1 satellite. It is claimed that the computing power on this launch device is '100x higher' than any other space-based operation. Now interesting, NVIDIA claims that with this approach, they get "infinite solar power", and the data centers in deep space won't rely on external batteries. Team Green has also figured out the solution to all their cooling problems, and that is through the usage of deep space vacuum.
Emitting waste heat from infrared radiation into space can conserve significant water resources on Earth, since water isn’t needed for cooling. Constant exposure to the sun in orbit also means nearly infinite solar power — aka no need for the data centers to rely on batteries or backup power.
Starcloud has been part of NVIDIA's Inception program, designed to enable startups and connect them with experts from Team Green. The CEO of the firm, Philip Johnston, predicts that nearly all data centers will be built in outer space within the next ten years, implying a growing interest in this segment. Of course, there are limitations involved in deploying huge AI factories on land; hence, Starcloud's efforts are something that we would like to call 'thinking out of the box'. However, if 'space-based' data centers are the next big thing, we are sure that Elon Musk won't be left behind.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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