China should not follow SpaceX in launching artificial intelligence data centres into orbit, but instead focus on more practical near-term space-based computing, a senior researcher has said.
Gao Wen, a computer scientist at Peking University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said on Thursday that electricity demand was not a major bottleneck for AI data centres in China, meaning there was little reason to move them into space.
In a Sina News interview during the annual “two sessions”, Gao, who is also a deputy to the National People’s Congress, said China should instead prioritise computing systems in orbit that processed data generated by satellites.
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“If processing and analysis can be done in orbit first, satellites could send back only the useful information. That would allow the data gathered in space to be used much more effectively.”
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The idea of space-based data centres is gaining attention. In January, Elon Musk’s SpaceX filed a request with the US Federal Communications Commission to deploy a constellation of up to one million satellites that would operate as orbital data centres.
Supporters say such systems could take advantage of the abundant solar energy in space and avoid the enormous water demand needed to cool AI data centres on Earth. In the US, the rapid growth of AI infrastructure has sparked opposition from communities worried about energy consumption and environmental impacts.
