The former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, imagines an unexpected response to the energy explosion caused by the rise of artificial intelligence. According to an article published by Ars Technica On May 2, 2025, he plans to move the digital infrastructure … beyond the atmosphere.
Data centers in orbit
Faced with the meteoric rise in energy demand generated by artificial intelligence infrastructure, Eric Schmidt, former president and chief executive officer of Google, defends a radical strategy: Delocate data centers – Data Centers in space. In March 2025, the latter bought the Construction Relativity Space, specializing in orbital launchers, to materialize this project. On May 2, 2025, journalist Eric Berger revealed in Ars Technica that the displayed objective is to make possible the deployment of servers in low orbit to circumvent the physical and energy limits of land data centers.
During a parliamentary hearing before the United States Energy and Trade Committee in April 2025, Eric Schmidt alerted to the future size of the necessary infrastructure: « 10 gigawatts data centers are being planned. This gives you an idea of the magnitude of this crisis. » (Ars Technica). He added: “The data centers will require 29 additional electricity gigawatts by 2027, and 67 gigawatts of more by 2030.”
Use solar power plants in orbits
To limit pressure on land networks, Eric Schmidt proposes to use solar power plants installed in orbit, capable of transferring their energy to the earth via microwave. He notably evokes the work of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) on this type of solution, as well as the similar experiments carried out by China, as indicated Futura Sciences (1er May 2025). The Terran R rocket, developed by Relativity Space, could transport up to 33.5 tonnes in low orbit, with a reusable version to reach 23.5 tonnes (Ars Technica).
In addition to this energy optimization strategy, Eric Schmidt co-signed with Alexandr Wang (CEO of Scale AI) and Dan Hendrycks (director of the Center for Ai Safety), in which he advocates the establishment of data centers in isolated areas. According to them, these infrastructures could become geopolitical targets. The document evokes a doctrine named Mutual Assured AI Malfunction (Maim), inspired by nuclear deterrence: « A project of unilateral domination by AI could be confronted with preventive sabotage on the part of its rivals. » (Data Center Dynamics). This doctrine envisages cyber attacks, sabotage or targeted kinetic strikes. The report also recommends the physical control of semiconductors: periodic authorizations, automatic deactivation in the event of illegal export, or even reinforced traceability of ia chips via on site video surveillance.
