Much of the news about SpaceX has focused on its expected initial public offering (IPO), but the company recently made headlines for another reason. SpaceX struck a deal with Anthropic under which the artificial intelligence (AI) start-up will use the full computing capacity of SpaceX's Tennessee data center.

For Anthropic, more capacity means it can increase usage limits for its customers. For SpaceX, it's a cash infusion right before it goes public, but there's another opportunity in the announcement as well.

Image source: Getty Images.

The growing push for data centers in space

In its press release announcing the deal, Anthropic said, "As part of this agreement, we have also expressed interest in partnering with SpaceX to develop multiple gigawatts of orbital AI compute capacity." When looking at the entire press release, it appears to be a line that was just slipped in, but it has significant potential implications.

Instead of requiring physical land and placing heavy demands on water, power, and other resources, space-based data centers could be operated continuously by sunlight. There are still challenges to scaling that concept, such as maintenance and avoiding space debris, but it's gaining real momentum from players in big tech.

In March, Nvidia announced its Space-1Vera Rubin Module, which will allow advanced AI models and large language models to operate in space. Alphabet also has an initiative called Project Suncatcher that is exploring the opportunities and challenges of data centers in space.

Working with Anthropic on orbital data centers helps make SpaceX not just a space company but one that can also build out the future of AI infrastructure.

Multiple revenue streams

SpaceX's Starlink satellites provide broadband internet, and that part of the business may have generated more than $10 billion in revenue in 2025, according to Forbes' December 2025 calculations. That forecast suggested that two-thirds of SpaceX's $15 billion in assumed 2025 revenue was from Starlink, so launching AI data centers in space, while not an immediate revenue source, could give SpaceX another meaningful sales generator for the long term.

For companies that are part of the AI infrastructure story, it will be a good business to be in, as the global AI data center market is expected to grow from $147 billion in 2025 to over $800 billion by 2033. As that market grows and technological advancements advance, part of the build-out could eventually include more data centers orbiting space.

If you were considering purchasing shares of SpaceX when it goes public, the deal with Anthropic looks like a win. It generates cash for SpaceX now, and while there will be obstacles, it also opens up potential long-term opportunities in orbital data centers.