Eric Schmidt, widely recognized as the former head of Google, has revealed a bold and unconventional vision for data centers. He expressed his desire to construct data centers in Earth’s orbit.

During a hearing focused on the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and global competitiveness, Schmidt—now serving as CEO of Relativity Space—highlighted how data centers demand enormous amounts of electricity. Some planned data centers are projected to require up to 10 gigawatts of power.

However, the United States is currently unable to meet such demands, as most power plants in the country typically generate only around 1 gigawatt.

This demand is expected to surge, reaching 29 gigawatts within the next few years and potentially escalating to 67 gigawatts by the year 2030.

“These are industrial-scale operations the likes of which I’ve never seen before,” Schmidt remarked.

His involvement with Relativity Space is seen as part of his strategy to tackle this growing energy demand. Schmidt confirmed this speculation and noted that he is actively considering developing data centers in outer space.

He explained that the most viable way to resolve the energy issue is by harnessing solar power directly from space.

As part of his plan, Schmidt intends to use Relativity’s rockets to deploy data centers into Earth’s orbit.

Relativity Space, which was founded a decade ago, is a private aerospace company that focuses on additive manufacturing technology. The company is currently developing a launch vehicle called Terran R, capable of transporting up to 33,500 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit.

This constellation of orbital data centers is expected to surpass the scale of Starlink satellites operated by SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk. Today, thousands of Starlink satellites orbit Earth to deliver internet services to a variety of devices on the planet's surface.