SpaceX aims to launch orbital AI computer tests by the end of next year, sources said

Written by Akash Sriram

NEW YORK, June 9 (Reuters) – SpaceX executives said the company aims to launch the first demonstrations of space-based artificial intelligence infrastructure in late 2027, ahead of the “early 2028” timeline disclosed in its IPO filing, according to two people who attended the investor presentations.

The orbital-compute effort is among SpaceX’s long-term growth targets for investors. The company says in its IPO documents that it is “the only company with a commercial approach to building orbital AI compute at scale.”

SpaceX has asked regulators for permission to launch up to 1 million space-based satellites.

During two investor presentations before the IPO, both involving President Gwynne Shotwell and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen, SpaceX executives outlined a roadmap to begin demonstrating orbital-compute capabilities by 2027, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Both sources were at the Goldman Sachs meeting and one went to another meeting as well.

While the IPO filing said orbital data center deployments could begin in 2028, it did not distinguish between demonstration and commercial deployments.

Shotwell and Johnsen, who have partnered with major investment banks to secure $75 billion in funding for the company’s IPO targeting a $1.75 billion valuation, described the initial shipments as demonstrator programs intended to validate the technology before any wider commercial rollout, sources said.

One of them interpreted the timeline in the IPO filing as providing management room for potential delays in Starship development or satellite manufacturing.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the event attended by several investors and portfolio managers.

SpaceX stock is scheduled to begin trading on Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker symbol SPCX, and the IPO price is targeted at $135 per share.

STARSHIP DELAY CREATES A CHALLENGE

Starship, the fully reusable rocket that supports the company’s orbiting computer systems, is years behind SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s initial goals and has yet to demonstrate the rapid reusability needed to make mass space missions economically viable.

Musk has experienced delays with projects at many of the companies he runs, but many involve open-ended challenges that have been difficult to resolve, said Michael Monaghan, a partner and portfolio manager at Founder ETFs, who was not at the meetings.

“I think that orbital data centers, although they are a difficult problem, have limitations on them, which gives me great hope that the deadlines will be hit.”

In a video released Monday, Musk said building AI orbital data centers is not a difficult engineering challenge because much of the technology needed already exists in the current Starlink satellite network.

The first version of the AI ​​satellite is likely to use Nvidia chips and the computing power of the spacecraft will be equivalent to that of an Nvidia GB300 rack, the CEO said.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in New York; Editing by Peter Henderson and Matthew Lewis)