Starcloud raises $250M to build AI data centers in orbit
Artificial intelligence hardware startup Starcloud Inc. today announced that it has raised $250 million in funding at a $2.3 billion valuation.
Investment firm Manhattan West led the deal. It was joined by more than a dozen other backers, including Nvidia Corp. and Cisco Investments. The cash infusion extends a Series A round that Starcloud announced in March.
The company’s latest raise comes about 10 months after it launched an Nvidia graphics card into orbit aboard a small satellite. Starcloud used the system to complete the first-ever orbital AI training run. In the long term, the company hopes to launch 88,000 more satellites with a combined computing capacity of 20 gigawatts.
Starcloud says orbital AI clusters offer several advantages over terrestrial data centers. They don’t require the complicated cooling systems that are needed on the ground. Additionally, satellites can generate power for their onboard AI chips using solar panels.
On Earth, the energy output of solar arrays decreases at nighttime. That doesn’t apply in space, where satellites can be configured to face the sun at all times. Furthermore, orbital solar panels avoid adverse weather conditions such as storms that block sunlight.
Starcloud plans to follow up the satellite that it launched last year with a system called Starcloud-2. It will go into orbit in 2027 with onboard AI chips, storage equipment and a data backup module. Starcloud says that the system will run both training and inference workloads.
Today, satellites beam the data they collect to the ground for processing. Starcloud says Starcloud-2 will make it possible to analyze sensory measurements in orbit. The results of an analysis can be streamed to the ground faster than raw sensory datasets.
Starcloud plans to develop two more satellite generations after Starcloud-2.
The first, Starcloud-3, will contain graphics cards, cooling equipment and heat dissipation gear with a power footprint of 200 kilowatts. That’s equivalent to the energy consumption of a few dozen homes. The largest data center campuses under construction today consume as much power as several million homes.
The most advanced system will be known as Starcloud-4. The company envisions it as a cylindrical structure attached to a 2.5-square-mile solar array. According to Starcloud, the plan is to equip it with numerous container-shaped data center modules designed to host liquid-cooled servers.
The company’s more immediate priority is to expand its manufacturing capacity. Starcloud is building production lines capable of mass-producing its 200-kilowatt Starcloud-3 satellites. Additionally, it will use its newly raised funds to book space aboard orbital launch vehicles.
Starcloud’s launch partner is reportedly SpaceX Corp., which is developing its own AI satellite. The AI1 will have a 230-foot wingspan and similar computing capacity as the Starcloud-3. SpaceX plans to start mass producing the satellite as soon as the end of 2027.
Image: Starcloud
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