
SpaceX to Exclusively Use Nvidia Chips for AI, Boosting Nvidia's Stock

By Mariana Mazzucato


By Mariana Mazzucato
SpaceX has publicly committed to exclusively deploying Nvidia's AI infrastructure. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, confirmed this pivotal decision during the company's inaugural earnings call, signaling a long-term strategic alignment with the chipmaker's advanced AI solutions.
Following Musk's announcement, Nvidia's stock experienced a notable surge, climbing over 4%. Conversely, SpaceX's stock initially saw a dip of more than 10%, though it later recovered some ground, reflecting the market's mixed reactions to the significant capital expenditure involved in expanding AI capabilities.
Musk lauded Nvidia's Vera Rubin architecture as the superior choice for AI computing, emphasizing the strong collaborative relationship between the two companies. This endorsement underscores the belief that Nvidia's technology offers unparalleled performance for SpaceX's ambitious AI goals.
SpaceX anticipates a substantial increase in its computing capacity, targeting over 2 gigawatts by the end of the current year and projecting nearly 10 gigawatts by the close of the following year. This aggressive expansion plan highlights the company's commitment to scaling its AI operations.
Next year will mark the launch of SpaceX's Starmind satellites, which are designed to function as orbiting data centers. This innovative approach aims to overcome the traditional limitations of terrestrial data centers, such as land acquisition and energy-intensive cooling, by leveraging the unique environment of space.
While space offers numerous advantages for data centers, deploying and maintaining servers in orbit presents significant engineering challenges. The complexities of establishing and connecting these advanced systems in an extraterrestrial environment could be more demanding than constructing ground-based facilities.
SpaceX has reported impressive growth in its AI-related revenues, with a 213% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 247% rise compared to the same period last year, reaching $2.6 billion. This growth is primarily fueled by cloud service agreements and increased subscriptions for its Grok and X services.
The company has secured multi-billion dollar agreements with tech giants like Google and Anthropic, allowing them to lease SpaceX's data center capacity. These partnerships are crucial for powering the AI services of these major corporations, further solidifying SpaceX's position in the AI infrastructure market.
About the author

Economist and professor focused on government's role in innovation and value creation in the economy.

by Mariana Mazzucato
by Mariana Mazzucato