Is this admission that google’s proprietary chips etc. are not cutting it? Why would you need a bunch of nvidia GPUs if you have your own silicon? (AFAIK they have their own for both inference and training do they not?)
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Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
181–190 of 1001 posts
Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#182Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#183Earlier 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.
This is all just the typical Elon hate. What's desperate about getting paid $920,000,000 per month? If that's desperation, I'd love to start groveling more! Given extreme supply constraints, it's very unlikely that Google or Anthropic will just suddenly cancel right after the IPO unless their own demand collapses. And even if this were true, what value would that provide Musk? Could you imagine if your newly public c…
I have no love or hate for Elon Musk. I wish him luck with his space endeavours.
What's desperate is announcing a temporary (allegedly) doubling of revenues days before an IPO that has been criticised for being overpriced at 93 times sales.
These data centers were supposed to serve xAI. Now suddenly they get rented out to others. Why the sudden change of plans?
It's either an emergency accounting gimmick or the effective shutdown or repurposing of xAI.
Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
There are no NIMBYs in space. No government permitting on land use. And solar power is plentiful. It's like having a dollar store Dyson sphere.
Making use of that is predicated entirely on being able to put a lot of hardware into space cheaply. SpaceX is the undisputed best at that, no one comes close. The question is whether their "best" is good enough to make space datacenters economical.
Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#185Is this admission that google’s proprietary chips etc. are not cutting it? Why would you need a bunch of nvidia GPUs if you have your own silicon? (AFAIK they have their own for both inference and training do they not?)
How do you come to this conclusion? All it means is that spacex has compute and google does not. Suppose tpus were theoretically a million times better, but cannot be produced due to supply chain constraints, this action would still be rational. My personal take is that this really shows how bottlenecked the entire supply chain is. For such an important commodity there are shockingly few players ready for scale.
It's a very long contract (till 2029) for just covering themselves for supply.
Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you come to this conclusion? All it means is that spacex has compute and google does not. Suppose tpus were theoretically a million times better, but cannot be produced due to supply chain constraints, this action would still be rational. My personal take is that this really shows how bottlenecked the entire supply chain is. For such an important commodity there are shockingly few players ready for scale.
It's a very long contract (till 2029) for just covering themselves for supply.
3 years is quite a short horizon when it comes to semiconductor fabs. Also this article is a dupe, when it was previously discussed it surfaced that after some time either party can cancel with only 90 days notice.
Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you come to this conclusion? All it means is that spacex has compute and google does not. Suppose tpus were theoretically a million times better, but cannot be produced due to supply chain constraints, this action would still be rational. My personal take is that this really shows how bottlenecked the entire supply chain is. For such an important commodity there are shockingly few players ready for scale.
It's a very long contract (till 2029) for just covering themselves for supply.
No its not.
"Both SpaceX and Google have the option to terminate the agreement with 90 days’ notice after December 31, 2026"
Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#188Is this admission that google’s proprietary chips etc. are not cutting it? Why would you need a bunch of nvidia GPUs if you have your own silicon? (AFAIK they have their own for both inference and training do they not?)
Or alternatively there is simply a huge demand for compute and this is helping them fill a short-term need. Keep in mind if you saw in the article there is a 90-day cancellation clause. This is a nothing burger.
Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#189What exactly is SpaceX's core business?
Its main business is connectivity. Starlink generated over 10B last year. Becoming a broader infrastructure company with xAI.
That's only about 35% more than the main telecom operator here in Belgium (Proximus: $7.2B revenue in 2025, $2.5B market cap, positive earnings for 15+ years).
Obviously Starlink can and will growth. I'm just pointing out how insane the market cap is, when compared to similar scale "connectivity" businesses.
Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers
#190Is this admission that google’s proprietary chips etc. are not cutting it? Why would you need a bunch of nvidia GPUs if you have your own silicon? (AFAIK they have their own for both inference and training do they not?)
Supply and demand? Bubblists seem to think there's an infinite supply of chips, power, and water to make as many chat bots as possible; physics, as usual, dictates limits.