Tech news in 3 minutes
SoftBank’s CEO isn’t the only one with questions about Elon Musk’s orbital data center hype
During a recent SoftBank shareholder meeting, CEO Masayoshi Son dismissed Elon Musk's vision for orbital data centers, arguing the concept is too costly and slow to address immediate AI needs. Son stated, "in the battle for AI, the next few years will be far more important than what might happen a decade or so from now." The discussion aired on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosted by Anthony Ha, with Kirsten Korosec and Sean O'Kane. They also covered OpenAI's custom chips, Groq's $650 million funding, and more. Korosec found it "very ironic" that Son—whose SoftBank has a "long history of wild bets"—took a skeptical stance. O'Kane noted that Musk's proposal for a satellite constellation requiring frequent replacement essentially "guaranteeing that much more business" for SpaceX's launch operations. Ha highlighted that many companies, from Groq to former shoe-seller Allbirds, are pivoting to "neo-cloud" compute leasing due to widespread compute constraints. O'Kane emphasized that SpaceX's launch dominance (80-90% of the global market) is heavily driven by Starlink; without it, their share would drop to 20-40%. He argued that an orbital data center would further boost SpaceX's launch business. Son questioned the practicality of space data centers, noting they would take years to deploy and not solve current shortages. Korosec said it's important for a high-profile figure to ask such questions, yet ironic given SoftBank's own bold bets. Ha concluded that all parties are "talking their own book": Musk's proposal benefits SpaceX; SoftBank invests heavily in Earth-based data centers; and Sam Altman has also dismissed the idea. There are no impartial observers—each prediction serves vested interests.