Google CEO Sundar Pichai and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have engaged in a public exchange on X (formerly Twitter) after Google announced plans to build the world’s first AI data center in space. The conversation began this week when Pichai unveiled Project Suncatcher, an initiative to establish an AI data center in low Earth orbit powered by solar energy.“Our TPUs are headed to space!” Pichai wrote, referring to Google’s Tensor Processing Units, custom chips that run the company’s machine learning models. Pichai said the project will explore building scalable machine learning compute systems in space that use solar power directly. Google tested its Trillium-generation TPUs and found they survived radiation levels comparable to those in orbit.Google plans to launch two prototype satellites by early 2027 with Planet Labs. The company aims to develop zero-carbon, solar-powered AI infrastructure.Pichai called the effort a “moonshot” and acknowledged significant technical challenges, including thermal management and on-orbit reliability. He suggested that further breakthroughs are needed before space-based compute systems can operate at scale.
Elon Musk starts a conversation
Musk responded to Pichai’s announcement with “Great idea lol.”Pichai replied kindly, saying, “”:) Only possible because of SpaceX’s massive advances in launch technology!”, purportedly praising SpaceX’s reusable rockets that have reduced the cost of reaching orbit.Musk thanked Pichai and credited his team: “Thanks 🙂 SpaceX team is incredible. All done without AI so far, even Starship. With AI, I can’t even imagine the possibilities.”Pichai responded with a fire emoji to Musk’s comment about SpaceX’s achievements without AI.
Pichai-Musk conversation on Quantum Computing
This is not the first time that Pichai and Musk have exchanged thoughts on X. Last month, Pichai shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, announcing a new breakthrough in quantum algorithms. “Our Willow chip has achieved the first-ever verifiable quantum advantage,” Pichai wrote in the post, adding it is “13,000x faster than the best classical algorithm on one of the world’s fastest supercomputers”. Pichai’s post caught the attention of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The tech billionaire replied to Pichai’s post saying “Congrats. Looks like quantum computing is becoming relevant.”
