https://j.people.com.cn/n3/2026/0410/c95952-20445424.html

Elon Musk has been cited to have said that space will become the lowest-cost location for deploying artificial intelligence (AI) within 36 months.

According to Li Jie, Deputy Director of the Cloud Computing and Big Data Institute of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, space computing is the construction of a space information infrastructure that integrates computing power, data storage power, and transmission power by deploying computing systems, data storage systems, and high-speed data interconnection facilities in orbit, based on space technology.

From an energy perspective, the annual power consumption of a super-large data center is comparable to the total power consumption of all residents in a small city. According to International Energy Agency (IEA) data, by 2030, the power consumption of data centers worldwide is projected to approach the total power consumption of all of Japan. As space computing can efficiently utilize space-based solar energy and the cryogenic environment of space, it could complement ground-based energy.

In terms of full-area coverage, after the construction of satellite constellations, space computing will no longer be limited by the coverage area of ​​ground-based fiber optics and base stations, achieving nearly 100% seamless global coverage. This will enable advanced technical support for autonomous vehicles and rapid response for low-altitude aircraft.

However, space computing still has a long way to go before it can move from being usable to being easy to use and low-cost. According to industry insiders, many challenges remain in areas such as interspace communication, space-borne chips, energy and thermal management technologies, as well as application scenarios and business models.