Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 1001 posts

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#141

Post by H8crilA »

ACCount37 wrote: post #134
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either that or SpaceX is permanently turning xAI's assets into a neocloud because xAI itself has no traction. The whole thing looks rather desperate. I wonder what SpaceX's margins are on these contracts.

SpaceX has recently started pitching itself as an orbital datacenter company. If you buy into that business model (or pretend to), it makes sense for SpaceX to start selling compute early. Their "earthside compute" clients of today are "skyside compute" clients of tomorrow. A part of Musk's old pitch for Starlink was: space-based solar makes perfect sense for powering space assets, and no sense whatsoever for powerin…

Why would it ever be more economical to put datacenters in orbit, rather than on some dirt cheap land?

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#142

Post by sidcool »

jeltz wrote: post #130
cj wrote: post #103

What exactly is SpaceX's core business?

Their satellite internet business is the only thing which makes them money, which is enabled by their orbital launch business which is as of right now not profitable and I have no idea of if it ever will be but without it they would not be able to launch enough satellites. Their stupidity with AI and buying X mostly seems to be about scamming investors to make Musk even richer. Like this particular deal is just them…

I can understand this being a move to increase valuation, but I can't connect with the stupidity and scamming investors argument.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#143

Post by sublimefire »

hirako2000 wrote: post #122
cj wrote: post #103

What exactly is SpaceX's core business?

Its main business is connectivity. Starlink generated over 10B last year. Becoming a broader infrastructure company with xAI.

Starlink terminals are popular, they put them on drones to avoid jamming (Starling jamming exists but not that easy for now). It might be their sales are inflated due to its use at war.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#144

Post by formerly_proven »

ACCount37 wrote: post #134
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either that or SpaceX is permanently turning xAI's assets into a neocloud because xAI itself has no traction. The whole thing looks rather desperate. I wonder what SpaceX's margins are on these contracts.

SpaceX has recently started pitching itself as an orbital datacenter company. If you buy into that business model (or pretend to), it makes sense for SpaceX to start selling compute early. Their "earthside compute" clients of today are "skyside compute" clients of tomorrow. A part of Musk's old pitch for Starlink was: space-based solar makes perfect sense for powering space assets, and no sense whatsoever for powerin…

When I hear space I think "that's the perfect location for a data center", since data centers are lightweight, small, require little power, don't need human intervention, have lifetimes measured in decades and don't have to reject heat. Since space easily satisfies these requirements, space is an ideal deployment location for data centers.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#146

Post by jeltz »

transcriptase wrote: post #136
supertroop wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he’s so smart why isn’t grok using all that capacity?

Building excess capacity from the start and selling it for a billion a month to constrained competitors. I only wish I could be so dumb.

If your dad had owned an emerald mine I am sure you could also have been that dumb.

But to be more serious: It is impossible to say if this is good or bad for XAI without more numbers. What if they bought their compute way over market price and sell it at a loss?

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#147

Post by fellowmartian »

Signez wrote: post #107

Sorry, what? Does this mean that SpaceX are the only company that really did build some datacenters to put all the million of GPU/TPU/whatever they all talk about everyday? I mean, Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft told investors they spent more than $1B per day last year in CapEx... why on Earth do they (well, Google and Anthropic at least) need to rent compute to SpaceX, of all companies?

Plus it’s not like some absolutely enormous data centers, only 300MW.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#148

Post by b40d-48b2-979e »

Mistletoe wrote: post #125
devops000 wrote: post #104

“If we fail to deliver access to the committed amount of GPUs by September 30, 2026, then following a one-month grace period, Google may immediately terminate the agreement or accept the number of GPUs provided, with a corresponding pro rata reduction in the monthly fees. After December 31, 2026, the agreement may be terminated by either party upon 90 days' notice.” https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000…

Feels like these IPOs are thankfully the top coming before the AI crash and we get back to the real world.

One can hope, but that sentiment is quite unpopular on HN.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#150

Post by nutjob2 »

ACCount37 wrote: post #134
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either that or SpaceX is permanently turning xAI's assets into a neocloud because xAI itself has no traction. The whole thing looks rather desperate. I wonder what SpaceX's margins are on these contracts.

SpaceX has recently started pitching itself as an orbital datacenter company. If you buy into that business model (or pretend to), it makes sense for SpaceX to start selling compute early. Their "earthside compute" clients of today are "skyside compute" clients of tomorrow. A part of Musk's old pitch for Starlink was: space-based solar makes perfect sense for powering space assets, and no sense whatsoever for powerin…

Space-based datacenters simply won't work. That people are talking about them shows Musk is the greatest snake oil salesman the world has ever seen.
Post reply on HN