▲ SoftBank Group Chairman Masayoshi Son
Masayoshi Son, chairman of Japan's SoftBank Group, has dismissed the idea of building space-based AI data centers, a concept pursued by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, stating that it offers little to no advantage.
According to Bloomberg, Son made these remarks during SoftBank Group’s annual general meeting for its telecommunications unit held today (June 23). He argued that the primary benefit cited for space-based AI data centers—reducing power costs—represents only a small fraction of overall data center operating expenses compared to hardware costs, such as chips.
He added that the immense cost of launching all the equipment into space, combined with maintenance challenges and communication latency, would far outweigh any savings in power costs.
When asked by a shareholder whether SoftBank is preparing something similar to Musk’s space AI data center project, Son emphasized, "In the AI race, the next few years are far more important than what might happen in the next decade."
While he praised Musk as a "driver of remarkable change," Son stated that SoftBank will focus on building "massive" data center capacity on the ground.
Son has previously pledged to invest approximately $65 billion in OpenAI and has publicly committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars on building data centers and related infrastructure worldwide.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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