Nvidia might be preparing to join the race to develop space-based data centers. The GPU maker is hiring an “Orbital Datacenter System Architect.”
Nvidia is hiring a system architect in Santa Clara to “help define and build products for AI in orbit,” the job posting says, which the company appears to have published this week.
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The position calls for developing the “architecture for orbital datacenter systems, considering everything from the chip out to the satellite and connectivity between satellites.” Another task is to work with Nvidia’s teams, including for silicon, software, and networking, to “build a roadmap that guides development of future Nvidia products for space.”
“Collaborate with Nvidia’s key customers and system development partners to align on consistent strategies,” the posting adds.
Nvidia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But it’s possible the company is working with SpaceX, which is going all in on orbital data centers. Last month, SpaceX absorbed Elon Musk’s other business, xAI, which has been sourcing hundreds of thousands of enterprise GPUs from Nvidia.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was asked in an earnings call last week about space-based data centers. “Well, the economics are poor today, but it is going to improve over time,” he said.
(Credit: Starcloud)
Huang noted that an Nvidia “Hopper” H100 GPU was already sent into Earth’s orbit last year, using a test satellite from the startup Starcloud, which is looking to build its own 88,000-satellite constellation for AI data centers. Huang added that one of the “best use cases” for GPUs in space is tapping them for high-resolution satellite-image processing.
We also wonder if Nvidia might reveal more about the orbital data center plans at its annual GTC event in San Jose later this month. In the meantime, SpaceX has already laid out plans to develop orbital data centers across a constellation of up to 1 million satellites. So perhaps, the company is already talking with Nvidia about building space-grade GPUs for the system.
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It could be a huge business for the GPU maker. Nvidia’s job posting has since prompted Starcloud’s CEO Philip Johnston to chime in. “Nvidia has realized that space inference chips will be by far their largest market in the not-too-distant future,” he tweeted.
SpaceX is betting the concept will work, pointing to the environmental and energy benefits of harnessing solar energy directly from Earth’s orbit. However, the data center approach faces key challenges, including cooling GPUs without airflow and protecting hardware from cosmic radiation. Meanwhile, other critics are calling out the environmental toll and space safety issues from the proposed 1 million-satellite constellation.
Google is also pursuing the orbital data center concept, but has described it as a “research moonshot” that currently only involves two prototype satellites set to launch in early 2027.
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