{"slug": "softbank-ceo-questions-elon-musk-s-vision-of-ai-data-centers-in-space-what-s-the", "title": "SoftBank CEO questions Elon Musk's vision of AI data centers in space: 'What's the point?'", "summary": "SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son questioned the economic viability of Elon Musk's proposal to build AI data centers in space, arguing that lower electricity costs would not offset the high expenses of maintenance, networking, and latency. Son stated that electricity accounts for only 7% of AI infrastructure costs, while chips and other expenses make up the rest, and urged focus on near-term AI opportunities.", "body_md": "SoftBank boss [Masayoshi Son](https://www.businessinsider.com/masayoshi-son-softbank-net-worth-lifestyle-silicon-valley-estate-photos-2019-6) isn't convinced that the future of powering artificial intelligence lies in orbit.\n\nWhile speaking at one of the Japanese tech conglomerate's annual shareholder meetings on Tuesday, Son, the CEO and founder, challenged the economic case for putting [AI data centers in space](https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-ai-data-centers-spacex-will-send-into-space-2026-6), an idea championed by [Elon Musk](https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-ceo-elon-musk).\n\n\"What's the point? What's the benefit of building AI data center in space?\" Son said in response to a shareholder question, arguing that lower electricity costs alone would not justify the complexity of operating [data centers in orbit](https://www.businessinsider.com/data-centers-in-space-google-moonshot-project-suncatcher-tesla-openai-2025-11).\n\nAccording to a SoftBank translation of his remarks, Son contended that electricity accounts for only about 7% of the cost of operating AI infrastructure, while [chips needed to run and train](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-supercomputers-power-2030-city-nuclear-2025-4) AI models, as well as other expenses, make up the remaining 93%.\n\nThe billionaire added that any savings from lower electricity costs would be outweighed by the additional maintenance, networking and latency-related costs associated with operating data centers in space.\n\nSon said the economic and technical tradeoffs of space-based AI infrastructure could take years to figure out. In the meantime, he said SoftBank is determined to position itself at the forefront of the [AI boom.](https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happened-in-ai-this-year-2025-12)\n\n\"The winner will be decided in the next some years, so rather than focusing on the space where we have no idea what will happen in terms of AI-related business, we would like to focus on more with the near-sighted perspective,\" said Son, \"and we would like to become first-comer in any businesses related to AI.\"\n\nSon prefaced his criticism of space-based data centers by praising Musk, the world's richest person, as a pioneering entrepreneur. The CEO of [SpaceX](https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-stock-market-cap-400-billion-post-ipo-hangover-2026-6) and [Tesla](https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-history-founders) has promoted the idea of putting data centers in orbit as a potential solution to [AI's soaring energy demands](https://www.businessinsider.com/energy-conservation-hacks-data-center-costs-2025-10).\n\nEarlier this year, SpaceX said it aims to build a \"constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers\" and that it had [begun hiring engineers](https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-hiring-elon-musk-data-centers-in-space-2026-2) to make the vision a reality.\n\nTech billionaires like Amazon founder [Jeff Bezos](https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-jeff-bezos-space-data-centers-scientists-ask-why-2026-4) and Google CEO [Sundar Pichai](https://www.businessinsider.com/sundar-pichai-google-graduation-speech-stanford-ai-backlash-eric-schmidt) have also embraced the idea of space-based data centers to scale AI. Pichai has called the notion a \"moonshot,\" but said, \"when you truly step back and envision the amount of compute we're going to need, it starts making sense and it's a matter of time.\"\n\nOpenAI CEO [Sam Altman](https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-elon-musk-data-centers-space-timeline-2026-2), on the other hand, has slammed the concept of putting data centers in space as \"ridiculous.\"\n\n\"We are not there yet,\" Altman said in February. \"There will come a time. Space is great for a lot of things. Orbital data centers are not something that's going to matter at scale this decade.\"", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-ceo-questions-elon-musk-s-vision-of-ai-data-centers-in-space-what-s-the", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-ceo-masayoshi-son-elon-musk-ai-space-data-centers-2026-6", "published_at": "2026-06-23 17:36:56+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-24 00:46:17.592842+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["SoftBank", "Masayoshi Son", "Elon Musk", "SpaceX", "Tesla", "Jeff Bezos", "Sundar Pichai", "Sam Altman"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-ceo-questions-elon-musk-s-vision-of-ai-data-centers-in-space-what-s-the", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-ceo-questions-elon-musk-s-vision-of-ai-data-centers-in-space-what-s-the.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-ceo-questions-elon-musk-s-vision-of-ai-data-centers-in-space-what-s-the.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-ceo-questions-elon-musk-s-vision-of-ai-data-centers-in-space-what-s-the.jsonld"}}