SoftBank Founder Dismisses Idea of Data Centers in Space -- WSJ

Dow Jones06-23

By Gareth Vipers

SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son dismissed the idea of building AI data centers in space, suggesting the costs far outweigh any potential benefits.

Son paid credit to SpaceX founder Elon Musk's plans for extraterrestrial data centers during an annual shareholder meeting for SoftBank's mobile unit today, but said he expected the real arms race for AI power to be closer to home.

"What's the point? The benefit of building AI data centers in space is the lower electricity cost," Son said. "But with operating the AI data center the electricity cost is only 7% and the remaining 93% of the cost is for chips and other things."

The winner in the race to build data center capacity will be decided in the next seven years, Son predicted. "So rather than focusing on the space where we have no idea what will happen in terms of AI-related business," he said, SoftBank will focus on building a "formidable" data center capacity on Earth.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2026 09:58 ET (13:58 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  June 23, 2026 09:58 ET (13:58 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>","source":null,"html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>SoftBank Founder Dismisses Idea of Data Centers in Space -- WSJ</title>\n<style type=\"text/css\">\na,abbr,acronym,address,applet,article,aside,audio,b,big,blockquote,body,canvas,caption,center,cite,code,dd,del,details,dfn,div,dl,dt,\nem,embed,fieldset,figcaption,figure,footer,form,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,header,hgroup,html,i,iframe,img,ins,kbd,label,legend,li,mark,menu,nav,\nobject,ol,output,p,pre,q,ruby,s,samp,section,small,span,strike,strong,sub,summary,sup,table,tbody,td,tfoot,th,thead,time,tr,tt,u,ul,var,video{ font:inherit;margin:0;padding:0;vertical-align:baseline;border:0 }\nbody{ font-size:16px; line-height:1.5; color:#999; background:transparent; }\n.wrapper{ overflow:hidden;word-break:break-all;padding:10px; }\nh1,h2{ font-weight:normal; line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:.6em; }\nh3,h4,h5,h6{ line-height:1.35; margin-bottom:1em; }\nh1{ font-size:24px; }\nh2{ font-size:20px; }\nh3{ font-size:18px; }\nh4{ font-size:16px; }\nh5{ font-size:14px; }\nh6{ font-size:12px; }\np,ul,ol,blockquote,dl,table{ margin:1.2em 0; }\nul,ol{ margin-left:2em; }\nul{ list-style:disc; }\nol{ list-style:decimal; }\nli,li p{ margin:10px 0;}\nimg{ max-width:100%;display:block;margin:0 auto 1em; }\nblockquote{ color:#B5B2B1; border-left:3px solid #aaa; padding:1em; }\nstrong,b{font-weight:bold;}\nem,i{font-style:italic;}\ntable{ width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:1px;margin:1em 0;font-size:.9em; }\nth,td{ padding:5px;text-align:left;border:1px solid #aaa; }\nth{ font-weight:bold;background:#5d5d5d; }\n.symbol-link{font-weight:bold;}\n/* header{ border-bottom:1px solid #494756; } */\n.title{ margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.3;color:#ddd; }\n.meta {color:#5e5c6d;font-size:13px;margin:0 0 .5em; }\na{text-decoration:none; color:#2a4b87;}\n.meta .head { display: inline-block; overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nSoftBank Founder Dismisses Idea of Data Centers in Space -- WSJ\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n<div class=\"head\" \">\n\n\n<div class=\"h-thumb\" style=\"background-image:url(https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99);background-size:cover;\"></div>\n\n<div class=\"h-content\">\n<p class=\"h-name\">Dow Jones </p>\n<p class=\"h-time\">2026-06-23 21:58</p>\n</div>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<font class=\"NormalMinus1\" face=\"Arial\">\n<p>\n       By Gareth Vipers \n</p>\n<p>\n     SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son dismissed the idea of building AI data centers in space, suggesting the costs far outweigh any potential benefits. \n</p>\n<p>\n     Son paid credit to SpaceX founder Elon Musk's plans for extraterrestrial data centers during an annual shareholder meeting for SoftBank's mobile unit today, but said he expected the real arms race for AI power to be closer to home. \n</p>\n<p>\n     \"What's the point? 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The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n</p>\n<p>\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n</p>\n<p>\n  June 23, 2026 09:58 ET (13:58 GMT)\n</p>\n<p>\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc.\n</p>\n</font>\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"ARTY","symbol_name":"ISHARES FUTURE AI & TECH ETF","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://dowjonesnews.com/newdjn/logon.aspx?AL=N","article_id":"2645783414","we_media_id":"106","thumbnails":[],"rights":null,"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2645783414","pubTimestamp":1782223080,"columns":[],"sourceInfo":null,"weMediaInfo":{"media_name":"Dow Jones","introduction":"Dow Jones publishes the world’s most trusted business news and financial information in a variety of media.","home_visible":0,"id":"106","head_image":"https://static.tigerbbs.com/150f88aa4d182df19190059f4a365e99"},"summary":"SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son dismissed the idea of building AI data centers in space, suggesting the costs far outweigh any potential benefits.Son paid credit to SpaceX founder Elon Musk's plans for extraterrestrial data centers during an annual shareholder meeting for SoftBank's mobile unit today, but said he expected the real arms race for AI power to be closer to home.The benefit of building AI data centers in space is the lower electricity cost,\" Son said. \"But with operating the AI data center the electricity cost is only 7% and the remaining 93% of the cost is for chips and other things.\". 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The benefit of building AI data centers in space is the lower electricity cost,\" Son said. \"But with operating the AI data center the electricity cost is only 7% and the remaining 93% of the cost is for chips and other things.\" \n\n\n     The winner in the race to build data center capacity will be decided in the next seven years, Son predicted. \"So rather than focusing on the space where we have no idea what will happen in terms of AI-related business,\" he said, SoftBank will focus on building a \"formidable\" data center capacity on Earth. \n\n\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. 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