Jeff Bezos Backs Elon Musk's 'Very Realistic' Plan For Space-Based Data Centers Ahead Of SpaceX IPO

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos on Wednesday backed rival Elon Musk’s proposal of data centers in space, ahead of the $1.75 trillion initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX.

During an interview with CNBC, Bezos said that data centers in space are a “very realistic” idea, but differed with Musk on the timeline to set them up.

“What Elon would tell you is, if we don't set an ambitious timetable... if you want it in six years, say three…” he said, while adding that the two to three years timeline to achieve this feat is very short and ambitious.

Don’t Think Anyone Knows How Long It Will Take, Says Bezos

Bezos added that he doesn’t think anyone knows how long it will take to set up data centers in space, while laying down the ground rules for what would need to happen if this ambitious idea were to be realized.

“Energy needs to become a bigger percentage of the cost of terrestrial data centers. Today, terrestrial data centers spend less than 15% of their total cost of ownership on energy. The biggest advantage to being in space is that the energy is free,” he said.

Bezos predicted that energy costs will eventually increase for terrestrial data centers and semiconductor chips, which are expensive today, will become cheaper.

“The second thing is, the launch cost has to come down, and very significantly, by a factor of 10. That’s what we’re working on right here, that’s what Blue Origin is doing,” he added.

Bezos owns Blue Origin, and the aerospace startup is a rival of Musk-led SpaceX.

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