SpaceX set to launch Google AI chips into orbit in push toward space-based data centers

Alphabet plans to launch its own AI chips into orbit Thursday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, CNBC reported, marking a step toward building data centers in space. The launch is scheduled for 11:15 am PT from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California, according to CNBC.

The mission represents the first in-orbit test of Alphabet's Project Suncatcher, a "moonshot" initiative the company first revealed in November 2025, CNBC reported. Alphabet said in a post announcing the launch that the project aims to explore "whether space could one day host scalable machine learning infrastructure."

The Transporter-18 mission, which carries no crew, will carry several Planet Labs satellites, including one solar-powered prototype fitted with Google's AI chips known as TPUs, according to CNBC. MarketWatch reported the Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch Thursday afternoon carrying 130 customer payloads in total, one of which is the Planet Labs prototype satellite equipped with Alphabet's custom AI chips.

Alphabet said in its post that satellites in low Earth orbit can "access near-constant sunlight, generating up to eight times more solar power than on Earth," according to CNBC. The company has already tested its TPUs running AI workloads at a facility at the University of California at Davis, but according to CNBC does not yet know how the chips will perform in the conditions of low Earth orbit.

SpaceX has also announced plans to build and launch its own orbital data centers, made up of swarms of satellites developed in Redmond, Washington and equipped with graphics processing units and solar arrays the company plans to produce with Tesla, according to CNBC. Musk said earlier this year that space-based data centers would become the cheapest way to train AI, predicting "and that will be true within two years, maybe three at the latest," according to CNBC. SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said at a September event that the company will deploy "supercompute in space" in 2027, according to CNBC.

Alphabet holds a major investment in SpaceX, which had a record IPO in June, and the companies stay close partners despite competing AI divisions, according to CNBC. Alphabet's stake in SpaceX is currently valued at over $82 billion, according to CNBC.

Industry experts cited by CNBC said space-based data centers remain a far-out prospect, partly because rocket launches are capacity-constrained and expensive. Orbital data centers would also need cooling systems, chips able to withstand extreme temperatures, and protection from radiation, while orbital debris could further limit their viability, CNBC reported. The Transporter-18 flight will be the second potentially historic SpaceX launch in a single day, as the company is also slated to carry astronauts to the International Space Station from Florida's Space Coast for NASA on Thursday, beginning a six-month mission, according to CNBC.