Elon Musk, a prominent figure in the fields of artificial intelligence and aerospace, has once again made a shocking statement. He recently publicly asserted that due to the Earth's energy supply being unable to keep up with the explosive growth of AI infrastructure, space will become the most economically viable location for AI deployment within the next 30 to 36 months.

In his analysis, Musk pointed out that the expansion of the global AI industry is currently facing a serious energy bottleneck. Although the industry generally believes that "chip shortages" are the main constraint, the real "obstacle" before moving towards space deployment is actually power. He revealed the severity of this crisis through a set of comparative data: the average electricity consumption across the United States is currently about 0.5 terawatts, but according to the scale of AI data center construction, it may require as much as 1 terawatt of power in the future, which is twice the current consumption level.

Data from the International Energy Agency also corroborates this assessment. It is expected that the electricity consumption of data centers alone will increase by 15% within the next four years; by 2030, this proportion could account for 12% of the total power generation in the United States. Musk believes that it is no longer practically feasible to expand power plants and data centers on the ground, as administrative approvals and grid load are already approaching their limits.

In contrast, space deployment demonstrates unique energy advantages. Once data centers are launched into space, they can utilize nearly unlimited and highly efficient solar energy to completely solve the problem of energy scarcity. Musk predicts that once the power issue is resolved in space, the constraints on AI development will return to chip production capacity. This concept of seeking computing power in outer space is becoming an aggressive and forward-looking solution to address the "power shortage" on Earth.

Key Points:

  • ⚡ Earth's Energy Crisis: Musk warns that the power demand for AI infrastructure will double in the future, and the current energy supply system on Earth cannot support its explosive growth.

  • 🚀 Plan to Move Computing Power to Space: It is predicted that within three years, space will become the most economical and feasible place to deploy AI data centers due to its virtually unlimited solar energy resources.

  • 📉 Shift in Industry Constraints: As the energy bottleneck is resolved through space deployment, the core constraint of the AI competition will shift back to "chip production capacity" from the current "power shortage."