A Google energy leader says orbiting data centers could cost up to 100 times more than ones on Earth, which matters for what AI tools cost you.
Putting data centers in space could cost up to 100 times as much as building them on Earth. That is the warning from Amanda Peterson Corio, who leads data center energy at Google. She spoke this week at an event hosted by The Information.
Peterson Corio advised companies to look at every option on the ground first. In her words: "Let's explore all the terrestrial options before we go extraterrestrial." Terrestrial simply means on Earth. Extraterrestrial means beyond it.
The caution comes from inside a company that is itself exploring space. Google is testing AI server chips in orbit. So this is not an outside critic dismissing the idea. It is a Google leader saying the price gap is very large, even as her employer experiments.
A data center is a building full of computers that run online services, including AI tools. These machines use a lot of electricity, and power is a major cost of the AI boom. Where that power comes from can shape what companies charge for AI products.
Based on this comment, cheaper fixes on Earth look more likely to affect prices than servers floating overhead.
The material does not say how the 100 times figure was calculated, or what the cost comparison covers. It also does not say how Google's orbit tests are going, how long they will run, or when any results might be shared. The full article was not available, so more detail may exist.
Google's own energy chief says space data centers could cost up to 100 times more, so Earth-based power fixes will likely matter more for AI prices.
Major environmental groups now use AI to study climate data and track fires, while warning that the data centers behind AI carry their own environmental cost.
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Read more: Underwater datacenters may be next, and Lake Erie groups are worriedVoters in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, banned large data centers after a $900 million plan. Here is how a town of 6,600 did it, and what other places can learn.
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