Google targets 2027 for launch of space data centres

Google plans to start testing space-based data centres in 2027, CEO Sundar Pichai told Fox News. The company will first send small racks of machines into orbit on satellites, then expand if the trials work. Pichai framed the effort as a long-term "moonshot" to tap abundant solar energy in space, arguing that off-planet data centres could become routine within a decade.

The move follows similar claims from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has said gigawatt-scale data centres in space could be running within 20 years. Bezos argues that training large AI systems in orbit could eventually undercut the cost of ground-based facilities, thanks to constant solar power and the absence of weather-related disruption.