Ahead of SpaceX’s IPO this week, the company unveiled a significant milestone on the way to its orbital data center ambitions: 230-foot “AI1” satellites that generate 150 kW of peak power each, connected via laser links to each other and to Starlink. SpaceX said that it is to launch a dedicated AI satellite factory by the end of next year, and argued that the underlying technology is largely an extension of what SpaceX already built for Starlink V3. The company’s experience operating over 10K satellites will give it a unique advantage in managing an AI data center constellation that could reach up to one million satellites at scale.
The AI1 announcement occurred just days before the company underwent the largest IPO in history. SpaceX closed its first day of trading up 19% at $161 per share, valuing the company at $2.1 trillion after pricing at $135 and opening at $150. More than 500 million shares traded hands, a volume approaching Facebook’s 2012 debut. Elon Musk said SpaceX has been cash-flow positive since around 2015 and is going public now to fund a “significant growth phase,” including launching over 100K satellites and building AI data centers in space. Regardless of the triumphant IPO, or perhaps because of it, skeptics remain, with one calling the company’s $28.5 trillion total addressable market a “hallucination” and even Musk himself giving SpaceX a 10% chance of success as he defines it.
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