Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk recently stated on X that "solar power will become the largest source of electricity for human civilization by far." This bold prediction comes as the tech industry faces a severe power crisis driven by surging energy demands from artificial intelligence (AI).
Musk's post was in response to a chart highlighting solar energy's dominance in new electricity generation, underscoring a critical bottleneck in the AI boom: power shortages. Tech giants are racing to build massive data centers, with global electricity demand projected to surge 30% by 2035—primarily fueled by AI. Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya issued a stark warning, suggesting this pressure could double electricity prices within five years.
The energy crisis has grown so severe that industry leaders are proposing radical, futuristic solutions. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai have detailed plans to establish data centers in space.
Google's "Project Sunroof" aims to build scalable AI systems in orbit to harness "near-continuous solar energy," a resource unavailable on Earth. Meanwhile, Samsung and OpenAI are collaborating on floating data centers cooled by seawater.
These ambitious orbital solar solutions align closely with Musk's other ventures. ARK Invest's Cathie Wood identified electricity as the "primary bottleneck" for AI and highlighted SpaceX's Starship as the "key" technology needed to make orbital data centers economically viable.
Musk himself endorsed the concept, replying to Pichai's post about Project Sunroof with, "Good idea, lol." Pichai acknowledged that SpaceX's advancements in launch technology made the plan feasible.
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