NVIDIA is taking artificial intelligence where no GPU has gone before – literally into outer space. In collaboration with the ambitious startup Starcloud, the company is preparing to launch AI data centers beyond Earth’s atmosphere, powered by the sun and cooled by the cosmic void itself. 
What once sounded like science fiction now edges closer to reality – and could reshape how humanity thinks about computing power, energy, and sustainability.
On Earth, the AI boom is straining both grids and ground. Massive data centers built by Big Tech companies already consume gigawatts of electricity and swallow up large tracts of land, pushing the boundaries of what’s sustainable. Starcloud believes it has found an elegant escape from these earthly limits: shifting computation into orbit. Their plan involves building clusters of data centers in space, using solar energy and the deep-space vacuum as a natural heatsink – turning the universe into the ultimate cooling system.
The company’s first orbital mission, Starcloud-1, will deploy a 60-kilogram satellite loaded with NVIDIA’s powerful H100 AI GPUs. According to the team, this compact unit packs a punch: its onboard computing power is said to be up to 100 times stronger than any previous space-based computer system. NVIDIA celebrated this breakthrough in a recent blog post, calling it a milestone for both hardware innovation and energy efficiency in extreme environments.
By leveraging the constant exposure to sunlight in orbit, Starcloud claims its systems can achieve virtually infinite solar power without dependence on conventional batteries or backup generators. Cooling – a costly and resource-intensive challenge for Earth-bound facilities – is handled effortlessly by space itself. Waste heat emitted as infrared radiation dissipates directly into the vacuum, eliminating the need for massive cooling towers or precious water resources.
Starcloud’s CEO, Philip Johnston, predicts that within a decade, most data centers will be built in outer space. He envisions a future where computing resources orbit above the planet, leaving Earth’s surface free from the massive infrastructure footprint of AI expansion. The company has been part of NVIDIA’s Inception Program, which supports pioneering startups with technical guidance and industry expertise.
Of course, skeptics remain. Critics question how stable, secure, or even serviceable space-based AI servers can be – not to mention the complexity of maintaining a reliable communication uplink without quantum-level networking breakthroughs. Others joke that it’s only a matter of time before someone builds a real-life GoldenEye satellite, turning the race for orbital computing into a new high-stakes frontier.
Yet there’s no denying that Starcloud’s vision taps into the same spirit that fueled private spaceflight and satellite internet revolutions. And given how quickly technological ambition has outpaced imagination in recent years, NVIDIA’s chips might soon be crunching data among the stars – cooled by the cosmos and powered by an endless sun.