Jeff Bezos has proposed a bold solution to address the growing environmental toll of artificial intelligence: relocating data centers to space. Speaking at Italian Tech Week in Turin, the Amazon and Blue Origin founder argued that as AI continues to expand, Earth’s limited resources may not be able to sustain the energy and water demands of massive computing infrastructure. He predicted that gigawatt-scale data centers in orbit could become a reality within the next 10 to 20 years. “Space will end up being one of the places that keeps making Earth better,” Bezos said. “It already has happened with weather satellites. It’s already happened with communication satellites. The next step is going to be data centers and other kinds of manufacturing.” The environmental strain from data centers is already significant. As tech companies invest heavily in AI, the number of data centers is rising rapidly. These facilities require vast amounts of electricity and water to cool servers and power operations. According to an April report by the International Energy Agency, global water use by data centers reached about 560 billion liters annually in 2024 and could double to 1,200 billion liters by 2030. Meanwhile, electricity consumption has grown by roughly 12% per year since 2017, reaching 415 terawatt-hours in 2024—enough to power tens of millions of homes. Bezos’ vision hinges on space’s unique advantages: abundant solar energy available 24/7, with no clouds, rain, or weather disruptions, and naturally cold temperatures that reduce cooling needs. “These giant training clusters, those will be better built in space, because we have solar power there, 24/7,” he said. “We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centers in space in the next couple of decades.” Moving data centers off Earth could also drastically reduce pollution. Traditional facilities emit greenhouse gases and other harmful byproducts that contribute to climate change and harm public health. In space, those emissions would not directly impact the planet. This idea isn’t entirely speculative. Bezos has long championed the concept of off-planet industrialization to protect Earth, including building factories in orbit. Progress is already underway. In March, Florida-based Lonestar Data Holdings successfully tested a miniature data center—about the size of a book—in space. The “Freedom” payload was launched to the Moon aboard Intuitive Machines’ Athena Lunar Lander, carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Still, building massive orbital data centers remains a distant goal. Significant technical, logistical, and economic challenges remain, including launching and maintaining infrastructure in space, managing data transmission delays, and ensuring long-term reliability. However, as AI becomes increasingly embedded in daily life, finding sustainable solutions to its environmental footprint is becoming more urgent. Bezos’ vision, while ambitious, reflects a growing recognition that innovation may require looking beyond Earth.