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$RKLB partner Starcloud is building data centers in orbit & about to launch $NVDA H100s into space for the first time in a few weeks 👀

Shay Boloor

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138,220 views • 10 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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Fun to speak about data centers in space and Starcloud at @Sequoia’s AI day a few weeks ago. Thanks for having me! 🤓

Fun to speak about data centers in space and Starcloud at @Sequoia’s AI day a few weeks ago. Thanks for having me! 🤓

Philip Johnston

11,226 views • 3 months ago

Philip Johnston (Philip Johnston) is the co-founder and CEO of Starcloud, the company building data centers in space. In November 2025, Starcloud launched an Nvidia H100 GPU into orbit and trained the first large language model in space. They've since raised $200 million, hit a billion-dollar valuation just 17 months after YC demo day and filed with the FCC to deploy 88,000 more satellites. In this episode of Lightcone Podcast, Philip walks us through their wild origin story, the engineering challenges behind the Starcloud-1, why they booked a SpaceX launch before they even knew what they were building and how data centers in space make sense both economically and politically. 00:39 — Why Build Data Centers in Space? 01:40 — The Insight That Started Starcloud 04:43 — Launching Starcloud-1 09:45 — The Engineering Behind Data Centers in Orbit 13:49 — Why 100 VCs Said No 16:12 — Book the Launch Before You Build the Product 18:32 — The Roadmap to Commercial Space Compute 21:10 — Building NVIDIA GPUs for Space 23:41 — Raising $170M for a Hard Tech Startup 26:37 — Hiring the World's Best Space Engineers 31:25 — Why AI Compute Is Moving to Space 34:49 — Advice for Hard Tech Founders

Philip Johnston (Philip Johnston) is the co-founder and CEO of Starcloud, the company building data centers in space. In November 2025, Starcloud launched an Nvidia H100 GPU into orbit and trained the first large language model in space. They've since raised $200 million, hit a billion-dollar valuation just 17 months after YC demo day and filed with the FCC to deploy 88,000 more satellites. In this episode of Lightcone Podcast, Philip walks us through their wild origin story, the engineering challenges behind the Starcloud-1, why they booked a SpaceX launch before they even knew what they were building and how data centers in space make sense both economically and politically. 00:39 — Why Build Data Centers in Space? 01:40 — The Insight That Started Starcloud 04:43 — Launching Starcloud-1 09:45 — The Engineering Behind Data Centers in Orbit 13:49 — Why 100 VCs Said No 16:12 — Book the Launch Before You Build the Product 18:32 — The Roadmap to Commercial Space Compute 21:10 — Building NVIDIA GPUs for Space 23:41 — Raising $170M for a Hard Tech Startup 26:37 — Hiring the World's Best Space Engineers 31:25 — Why AI Compute Is Moving to Space 34:49 — Advice for Hard Tech Founders

Y Combinator

167,992 views • 9 days ago

Starcloud (starcloud_inc1) recently made history by launching a satellite with an NVIDIA H100 into orbit — the first time a GPU that powerful has ever operated in space. It's the first step toward building AI data centers in orbit, powered by continuous sunlight and cooled by radiating heat into deep space. Their approach could one day rival the world's biggest data centers while using less energy, zero fresh water, and far lower emissions. YC's Aaron Epstein visited Starcloud's HQ, where co-founders , Ezra Feilden, and Adrian Andrei Oltean explained how they built a working prototype in just 15 months — and why big tech is racing to space for AI compute.

Starcloud (starcloud_inc1) recently made history by launching a satellite with an NVIDIA H100 into orbit — the first time a GPU that powerful has ever operated in space. It's the first step toward building AI data centers in orbit, powered by continuous sunlight and cooled by radiating heat into deep space. Their approach could one day rival the world's biggest data centers while using less energy, zero fresh water, and far lower emissions. YC's Aaron Epstein visited Starcloud's HQ, where co-founders , Ezra Feilden, and Adrian Andrei Oltean explained how they built a working prototype in just 15 months — and why big tech is racing to space for AI compute.

Y Combinator

347,449 views • 9 months ago

In the SpaceX IPO debate, StarCloud CEO Philip Johnston responds to Tim Farrar’s doubts on performance and space data centers. “To say that SpaceX is doing data centers in space for the story because it's worried about missing its numbers… was the dumbest thing I'd heard all in a quite a long time.” Full episode:

In the SpaceX IPO debate, StarCloud CEO Philip Johnston responds to Tim Farrar’s doubts on performance and space data centers. “To say that SpaceX is doing data centers in space for the story because it's worried about missing its numbers… was the dumbest thing I'd heard all in a quite a long time.” Full episode:

The Information

46,961 views • 7 months ago

Why Would We Need Data Centers in Space? I interviewed co-founder and CEO of Starcloud, Philip Johnston to learn exactly why even if AI is a bubble, data centers in space would still prosper. Philip Johnston

Why Would We Need Data Centers in Space? I interviewed co-founder and CEO of Starcloud, Philip Johnston to learn exactly why even if AI is a bubble, data centers in space would still prosper. Philip Johnston

Ellie in Space 🚀💫

39,490 views • 7 months ago

BREAKING: X is about to launch stock market & crypto trading in the next few weeks 🥳👀 Anyone looking for a man in finance? 😜

BREAKING: X is about to launch stock market & crypto trading in the next few weeks 🥳👀 Anyone looking for a man in finance? 😜

Financelot

67,027 views • 6 months ago

$NVDA CEO Jensen Huang confirmed Vera Rubin is heading to space while saying Earth will still carry most data centers & energy demand “for some time to come.” He sees no physical limit to space-based data centers but says the technical challenges still need to be solved first.

$NVDA CEO Jensen Huang confirmed Vera Rubin is heading to space while saying Earth will still carry most data centers & energy demand “for some time to come.” He sees no physical limit to space-based data centers but says the technical challenges still need to be solved first.

Shay Boloor

207,107 views • 2 months ago

From putting AI data centers in orbit to colonizing Mars, how can ambitious space dreams become a reality? I sat down with space architect Ariel Ekblaw of Aurelia Institute to hear about the technology she is building to make it all possible:

From putting AI data centers in orbit to colonizing Mars, how can ambitious space dreams become a reality? I sat down with space architect Ariel Ekblaw of Aurelia Institute to hear about the technology she is building to make it all possible:

Fareed Zakaria

35,854 views • 1 month ago

For those who say I never answer whatever is their particular pet peeve on orbital data centers, this is a particularly dense interview covering a wide range of topics in a short time. Thanks for having me SpaceNews to talk about Starcloud and orbital data centers! 🤓

For those who say I never answer whatever is their particular pet peeve on orbital data centers, this is a particularly dense interview covering a wide range of topics in a short time. Thanks for having me SpaceNews to talk about Starcloud and orbital data centers! 🤓

Philip Johnston

11,907 views • 2 months ago

Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston joins Mo Islam and I at the NYSE. "In order to make data centers in space work, you really need the BOM costs for a 200 kW satellite to be on the order of 1 million dollars." We chat: - Building low cost sats - 20 yr terrestrial vs. 5 yr space - Merge with a launch company? - Does Starcloud exist if Earth's bottlenecks vanish? - Better leader: Altman or Dario - Building sats cheaper than Starlink - GPU failure rate

Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston joins Mo Islam and I at the NYSE. "In order to make data centers in space work, you really need the BOM costs for a 200 kW satellite to be on the order of 1 million dollars." We chat: - Building low cost sats - 20 yr terrestrial vs. 5 yr space - Merge with a launch company? - Does Starcloud exist if Earth's bottlenecks vanish? - Better leader: Altman or Dario - Building sats cheaper than Starlink - GPU failure rate

Jack Kuhr

15,180 views • 3 months ago

$RKLB: This morning on Bloomberg, Peter Beck discussed the SpaceX IPO, the race to raise capital in the space industry and the potential timeline for data centers in space with Bloomberg.

$RKLB: This morning on Bloomberg, Peter Beck discussed the SpaceX IPO, the race to raise capital in the space industry and the potential timeline for data centers in space with Bloomberg.

Space Investor

37,510 views • 2 months ago

The difference between a Harvard Business School student and a Founder. HBS STUDENT: Lists all the reasons AI Space Compute is hard. FOUNDER: “ I don't disagree with you that building data centers in space is hard. Building data centers in space is extremely hard. . . If you think [demand] is going to double in the next three years - demand for energy from just data centers - and then double in the next three years after that, and then double in the next three years after that, then: We don’t have a choice. We literally have to put data centers in space. So we have to figure this stuff out.” Philip Johnston Starcloud Founders solve problems. Founders KNOW it will be HARD and do it anyway because it simply NEEDS TO BE DONE. That is founder mindset - and that mindset is what Harvard Business School can’t teach.

The difference between a Harvard Business School student and a Founder. HBS STUDENT: Lists all the reasons AI Space Compute is hard. FOUNDER: “ I don't disagree with you that building data centers in space is hard. Building data centers in space is extremely hard. . . If you think [demand] is going to double in the next three years - demand for energy from just data centers - and then double in the next three years after that, and then double in the next three years after that, then: We don’t have a choice. We literally have to put data centers in space. So we have to figure this stuff out.” Philip Johnston Starcloud Founders solve problems. Founders KNOW it will be HARD and do it anyway because it simply NEEDS TO BE DONE. That is founder mindset - and that mindset is what Harvard Business School can’t teach.

Amy

19,909 views • 5 months ago

BREAKING: SpaceX $SPCX beats earnings estimates Revenue $7.8B vs est $6.81B EPS ($0.09) vs est ($0.24) R&D expenses $3.55B vs est $4.39B SpaceX and Nvidia $NVDA announced a strategic partnership to launch Rubin data centers into orbit.

BREAKING: SpaceX $SPCX beats earnings estimates Revenue $7.8B vs est $6.81B EPS ($0.09) vs est ($0.24) R&D expenses $3.55B vs est $4.39B SpaceX and Nvidia $NVDA announced a strategic partnership to launch Rubin data centers into orbit.

Financelot

27,629 views • 10 days ago

WHO'S READY FOR THIS? In a matter of weeks, New Glenn 3 will launch BlueBird 7 into orbit. Who's planning to attend the launch? $ASTS

WHO'S READY FOR THIS? In a matter of weeks, New Glenn 3 will launch BlueBird 7 into orbit. Who's planning to attend the launch? $ASTS

ASTS Investors 🅰️

15,885 views • 5 months ago

Access to space is solved. Impulse is building the highways to everywhere else in the solar system. Follow us into orbit:

Access to space is solved. Impulse is building the highways to everywhere else in the solar system. Follow us into orbit:

Impulse Space

59,772 views • 3 months ago

GOOGLE CEO: DATA CENTERS IN SPACE WILL HARNESS THE SUN’S POWER Sundar laid out a vision straight from science fiction, building Google’s future data centers in orbit to capture near-limitless solar energy: “How do we one day have data centers in space so we can better harness the energy from the sun? That’s a hundred trillion times more energy than what we produce on Earth today. In 2027, we’ll take the first step, sending tiny racks of machines aboard satellites to test them out and start scaling. A decade from now, this will be seen as a normal way to build data centers.” Source: Fox, Sundar Pichai

GOOGLE CEO: DATA CENTERS IN SPACE WILL HARNESS THE SUN’S POWER Sundar laid out a vision straight from science fiction, building Google’s future data centers in orbit to capture near-limitless solar energy: “How do we one day have data centers in space so we can better harness the energy from the sun? That’s a hundred trillion times more energy than what we produce on Earth today. In 2027, we’ll take the first step, sending tiny racks of machines aboard satellites to test them out and start scaling. A decade from now, this will be seen as a normal way to build data centers.” Source: Fox, Sundar Pichai

Mario Nawfal

459,614 views • 8 months ago

ASML CEO on Elon Musk's Data Centers in space and Terafab: "I think you need a certain amount of data centers and they will be in space, they will be on the earth. I think the discussion about data centers in space is to address another potential bottleneck in the ecosystem, which is energy. I think the discussion around putting data center in space is there because if you do that, the energy consumption or the energy availability will be there, about trying to solve another potential big issue, which is energy for data center. I think the Terafab is an example of a major fab project."

ASML CEO on Elon Musk's Data Centers in space and Terafab: "I think you need a certain amount of data centers and they will be in space, they will be on the earth. I think the discussion about data centers in space is to address another potential bottleneck in the ecosystem, which is energy. I think the discussion around putting data center in space is there because if you do that, the energy consumption or the energy availability will be there, about trying to solve another potential big issue, which is energy for data center. I think the Terafab is an example of a major fab project."

DogeDesigner

48,139 views • 1 month ago

🚨 Sam Altman Throws Shade at Elon’s Vision of Putting Data Centers in Space “Putting data centers in space is ridiculous … Do the very rough math of launch costs relative to the cost of power we can do on Earth … Orbital data centers are not something that's going to matter at scale this decade.”

🚨 Sam Altman Throws Shade at Elon’s Vision of Putting Data Centers in Space “Putting data centers in space is ridiculous … Do the very rough math of launch costs relative to the cost of power we can do on Earth … Orbital data centers are not something that's going to matter at scale this decade.”

Chief Nerd

261,663 views • 5 months ago

Some CEOs think it's time to build data centers on the moon. In a CNBC interview the CEO of one real estate firm says companies are looking to "monetize space" by building manufacturing plants and data centers up on the moon.

Some CEOs think it's time to build data centers on the moon. In a CNBC interview the CEO of one real estate firm says companies are looking to "monetize space" by building manufacturing plants and data centers up on the moon.

More Perfect Union

517,463 views • 1 year ago

2026 WILL BE THE YEAR OF SPACE A SpaceX IPO in 2026 would put the entire $1.8T space economy under its brightest spotlight yet with every layer of the ecosystem getting repriced: • $RKLB building an end-to-end space logistics • $PL monetizing continuous Earth data from orbit • $ASTS turning space into a global cellular network • $RDW supplying the picks-and-shovels of orbital infrastructure

2026 WILL BE THE YEAR OF SPACE A SpaceX IPO in 2026 would put the entire $1.8T space economy under its brightest spotlight yet with every layer of the ecosystem getting repriced: • $RKLB building an end-to-end space logistics • $PL monetizing continuous Earth data from orbit • $ASTS turning space into a global cellular network • $RDW supplying the picks-and-shovels of orbital infrastructure

Shay Boloor

190,415 views • 7 months ago