AWS CEO throws cold water on AI data centers in space

Matt Garman is the CEO of AWS. Big Event Media/Getty Images for HumanX Conference AI data centers in space aren't taking off anytime soon, according to Amazon cloud chief Matt Garman.On an episode of the Sources Podcast released Tuesday, Garman cast doubt on the near-term prospect of orbital data centers, saying they are "highly unlikely to be economically feasible or practical in the next decade or two."Space-based data centers "sounds good," Garman said, because they could tap free energy in orbit, but explained rocket launches into space are still "relatively infrequent and expensive.""We as a world don't do one launch a day today," said Garman, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, adding, "We're landing in a data center today one GPU every 14 seconds."The idea of orbital data centers has been championed by Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, as a potential solution to AI's soaring energy demands.Earlier this year, SpaceX said it aims to build a "constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers" and that it had begun hiring engineers to make the vision a reality. In January, Musk said that within three years "at the latest" space could be the cheapest place to put data centers.Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is also among the tech billionaires who have embraced the idea of space-based data centers to scale AI.In a CNBC interview in May, Bezos called data centers in space "very realistic," though he said the timeline could take longer than some expect."Some of the timelines we hear are very short," Bezos said. "People would talk about two or three years. That's probably a little ambitious." On the Sources Podcast, Garman said space-based facilities would face a major engineering challenge in managing heat."Dissipating heat in space is actually quite hard," Garman told podcast host Alex Heath. "It's just a really hard environment. There's radiation everywhere, so you have to build things."Garman said it would be "way more" expensive to build servers in space, but the feat is not impossible."These are all technically solvable problems," he said. "It's just going to take a while."Garman also expressed skepticism about underwater data centers. "Oceans, there's some of those same problems," he said. "I find oceans to be also probably impractical."Deserts, however, seemed to strike Garman as a more plausible frontier."I think deserts of those three that you mentioned are by far the most likely," Garman told Heath. "You have relatively good environmental areas. You actually have heat sinks. You have solar areas that you could do it."Though Garman argued building data centers far from communities would mean towns miss out on the increased tax base and high-paying jobs data centers can bring.During the interview, Garman pushed back on concerns about data centers' water use, saying Amazon's largest facilities use less water than 40 US households. Read next Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know Natalie is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Business News team covering the AI and data center boom.She was previously on BI's Legal Affairs team, where she handled major cases coming out of state and federal court, as well as bankruptcy. Her coverage often focused on stories at the intersection of law, business, politics, and technology. Natalie has covered Donald Trump’s criminal and civil cases, the wave of lawsuits against the second Trump administration, the indictment and criminal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the legal battles facing Elon Musk and his companies. Natalie came to Business Insider in June 2021 as a breaking news reporter, focusing on the most interesting angles on the day's trending news. Natalie largely drove BI’s coverage around the fatal “Rust” shooting involving Alec Baldwin and the disappearance and murder of Gabby Petito.Prior to joining BI, Natalie worked for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and The Brooklyn Paper. She has an extensive background covering crime and courts. During her more than 12-year journalism career, she did a stint covering the police beat out of the New York Police Department's headquarters. Natalie, a Brooklyn native, graduated from Brooklyn College in 2012 with a degree in journalism. Amazon Tech AI More Data Centers Space Jeff Bezos Elon Musk