{"id":889197,"date":"2026-02-13T06:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T06:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.electronicsweekly.com\/?p=889197"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:35:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:35:36","slug":"elon-to-launch-datacentre-satellites-from-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electronicsweekly.com\/news\/business\/elon-to-launch-datacentre-satellites-from-the-moon-2026-02\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon to launch datacentre satellites from the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk has told his staff at xAI &#8211; his AI development company &#8211; that they need to build a factory on the moon to build datacentres to be launched from the moon by a catapult, reports the New York Times.<\/p><div class=\"elect-content\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"elect-1781736494\"><div id=\"x02\">\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> if ($(window).width() <= 768) { googletag.display('x02'); } <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>This will give xAI more computing power than its AI rivals. \u201cIf you\u2019re moving faster than anyone else in any given technology arena, you will be the leader,\u201d said Musk.<\/p><div class=\"elect-test\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"elect-1119544655\"><div id=\"DFP-EW-InRead1\">\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> if ($(window).width() > 768) { googletag.display('DFP-EW-InRead1'); } <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<BR>\r\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-889201 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/static.electronicsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/12123715\/IMG_1726-150x150.webp\" alt=\"Elon to launch datacentre satellites from the Moon\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.electronicsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/12123715\/IMG_1726-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/static.electronicsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/12123715\/IMG_1726-70x70.webp 70w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>Musk has merged SpaceX with xAI to facilitate this initiative and some of the xAI founding team have left.<\/p><div class=\"elect-post-content-2\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"elect-1742043289\"><div id=\"DFP-EW-InRead1-Mobile\">\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> if ($(window).width() <= 768) { googletag.display('DFP-EW-InRead1-Mobile'); } <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cBecause we\u2019ve reached a certain scale, we\u2019re organizing the company to be more effective at this scale,\u201d explained Musk, \u201cand actually, when this happens, there\u2019s some people who are better suited for the early stages of a company and less suited for the later stages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Musk\u2019s ambition to colonise Mars is still intact. He<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>told the xAI employees that the moon is a stepping stone to Mars.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>After building \u201ca self-sustaining city on the moon,\u201d the plan is to go to Mars and then set out into the universe to look for aliens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk has told his staff at xAI &#8211; his AI development company &#8211; that they need to build a factory on the moon to build datacentres to be launched &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":889201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16039],"tags":[15207],"class_list":["post-889197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-spacex"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - 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