According to an announcement on SpaceX’s social media site X, SpaceX and Nvidia are working together to design the “compute payload” for Starmind AI1, the first in an orbiting network of satellites that will run AI workloads in outer space.<\/p>\n
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0In 2009, a “Double Down” signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia.\u00a0For the first time in years, that same “Total Conviction” signal is flashing for a company 1\/100th the size of Nvidia.\u00a0<\/em>Continue \u00bb<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Here’s what we know about the partnership and what it means for investors.<\/p>\n Image source: The Motley Fool<\/p>\n One of the biggest expenses for a data center is electricity. SpaceX’s goal for its orbiting Starmind AI data centers is to maximize power efficiency, thereby lowering compute costs.<\/p>\n Because\u00a0solar energy<\/a> is more abundant in space than on the Earth’s surface, solar panels on satellites that can be adjusted to face the sun are theoretically more efficient than terrestrial solar panels.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 30% to 40% of a terrestrial data center’s power is devoted to running\u00a0massive cooling systems<\/a>\u00a0that prevent the servers from overheating as they process the tremendous amount of data that AI requires. Because outer space is usually incredibly cold, keeping an orbital computer from overheating would theoretically require no electricity at all.<\/p>\n This is all theoretical, though: although the vacuum of space\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0cold, you can’t just put your entire computer into that vacuum or it will freeze. And while sunlight\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0stronger in space, even a large orbital solar panel can only produce a fraction of the electricity of a solar farm. Plus, in space there’s no gravity, no air supply, and no technician who can replace a burnt-out fuse. Starmind will need to take all these factors into account.<\/p>\n Who better to help than Nvidia?<\/p>\n According to SpaceX’s announcement, the first Starmind satellite will feature Nvidia’s top-of-the-line Vera CPUs and Rubin GPUs, as well as its Vera Rubin NVL72 rackscale system.<\/p>\n On the Q2 earnings call, Musk explained why Nvidia was the logical choice:<\/p>\n “Going forward, we’ve decided to build exclusively on Nvidia, because we think the Vera Rubin architecture is the best architecture. We think it’s the best AI computer, and we greatly value our close cooperation and partnership on many levels with Nvidia. We’re exclusive to Nvidia.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n “We think the design of the NVL72 VR computer is a much better design than, say, having a standard rack-style design. We expect to actually deploy this on the ground as well as in orbit, because we think it’s going to be a radical simplification of the normal NVL72 rack. It will cost less. It’ll be more effective. If we’re going to put it in space, why not put it on the ground? I think that’s going to be pretty cool.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n At press time, SpaceX’s Starmind website still said, “We are AI chip vendor agnostic. Our system architecture supports compute modules from any provider,” suggesting that Musk’s decision to go “exclusively” with Nvidia architecture is a recent one.<\/p>\n Nvidia, for its part, hasn’t made any official comment regarding the scope of its participation.<\/p>\n So, how long will it be before SpaceX’s Starmind satellite fleet is operational?<\/p>\n According to Musk, not long at all. “With respect to the Starmind AI satellite, which will be essentially an optimized Vera Rubin NVL72 computer, this is not some sort of far future distant thing,” he said on SpaceX’s earnings call. “We expect to start launching this next year.”<\/p>\n SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Image source: The White House.<\/p>\n Of course, Musk is notorious for repeatedly setting ambitious deadlines and missing them, so this timeline should be considered aspirational. SpaceX has applied to the Federal Communications Commission with a proposal to build a “megaconstellation” of up to 1 million Starmind satellites. That would be about 100 times larger than SpaceX’s current Starlink satellite fleet, which has taken the company 7 years to deploy.<\/p>\n In other words, while it’s good that Nvidia appears to be involved in the design process, it will probably be years before the project comes online, and even longer before it can give a significant boost to SpaceX’s bottom line.<\/p>\n Investors probably shouldn’t factor this into their near-term thesis for SpaceX’s stock.<\/p>\n Before you buy stock in\u00a0Space Exploration Technologies, consider this:<\/p>\n The Motley Fool\u00a0Stock Advisor<\/em>\u00a0analyst team just identified what they believe are the\u00a010 best stocks<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for investors to buy now\u2026 and\u00a0Space Exploration Technologies\u00a0wasn’t one of them.\u00a0The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years.<\/p>\n Consider when\u00a0Netflix<\/strong>\u00a0made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,\u00a0you’d have $396,758<\/strong>!*\u00a0Or\u00a0when\u00a0Nvidia<\/strong>\u00a0made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation,\u00a0you’d have $1,300,820<\/strong>!*<\/p>\n That performance is why people listen. 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Different by design<\/h2>\n
Exclusively Nvidia<\/h2>\n
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A grain of salt<\/h2>\n
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Should you buy stock in Space Exploration Technologies right now?<\/h2>\n