Elon Musk has never shied away from ambitious timelines, and his most recent one connects two companies directly together. In a post on X dated September 13, Musk stated that he is “highly confident” that Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) will transport NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) Vera Rubin NVL72 AI computers into orbit next year, repeating a plan that has already moved both companies’ stock this year.
The Starmind Program
The comment strengthens SpaceX’s Starmind concept, which aims to establish AI data centers in orbit rather than on the ground. The first satellite, named Starmind AI1, will carry a space-optimized version of NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system. The standard terrestrial NVL72 combines 72 Rubin GPUs and 36 Vera CPUs, although SpaceX and NVIDIA have not disclosed the final configuration of the orbital version. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. plans to launch the satellite in the fourth quarter of 2027 and reach substantial scale by 2028. Musk’s plan isn’t new; during SpaceX’s first earnings conference as a public company in August, he stated that the company would build exclusively on NVIDIA hardware in the future, calling the Vera Rubin architecture the best available AI computer design.
Betting That Space Is Cheaper Than Earth
Musk’s central point is that space is, in the long run, the most cost-effective area to develop AI computing. He cites solar power availability in orbit as a crucial advantage, and estimates that within two to three years, space might become the lowest-cost place for AI computing in general, describing the orbital architecture as simpler, less expensive, denser, and lighter than a standard data-center rack. Not everyone believes the physics and economics will align on Musk’s timeframe. Microsoft President Brad Smith has publicly questioned the broader concept, telling reporters that he would be surprised if companies actually transferred computation from land to low-Earth orbit.
What This Means For Each Company
For NVIDIA Corporation, the read-through is simple: space-based computing would represent a new, if early-stage and speculative, source of demand for its Vera Rubin platform, on top of the company’s strong position in terrestrial AI infrastructure. According to some analyst models, SpaceX accounts for approximately 5% of NVIDIA’s revenue.
SpaceX’s reasoning is more convoluted. The plan is entirely dependent on the success of Starship, SpaceX’s next-generation rocket system, which still needs to demonstrate its capacity to handle launch frequency and reliability on the scale Musk describes. When Musk said during SpaceX’s August earnings call that the company would build its future AI infrastructure exclusively on NVIDIA, NVDA shares rose more than 4%, while SpaceX’s shares fell more than 10% before paring losses, reflecting investor concerns about execution risk and capital intensity, despite the fact that the NVIDIA relationship was well received.
Hedge Fund Sentiment
Hedge fund ownership data for Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is limited in terms of movement due to its new public listing, with 119 funds having stakes as of the second quarter. NVIDIA Corporation saw hedge fund holdings increase from 275 in the first quarter to 285 in the second, confirming its standing as one of the most widely held companies among institutional investors, even though this particular orbital-compute plan remains a modest, speculative portion of the company’s overall growth story.
The Case For Believing the Timeline
NVIDIA’s involvement adds technical substance to Musk’s orbital-computing proposal, as it reflects a hardware and engineering relationship rather than merely a stated vision. SpaceX’s existing compute-rental agreements with Anthropic and Google demonstrate demand for its broader AI infrastructure business, and SpaceX’s underlying rocket business, particularly Starship’s reusability, could provide it with a cost structure that competitors would struggle to replicate if the launch cadence occurs as planned.
The Case For Skepticism
That said, Musk has a well-documented history of missing ambitious deadlines, and this project relies on Starship achieving a level of launch reliability and cadence that it has not yet achieved. Physical issues such as heat dissipation, radiation, and satellite servicing in orbit remain largely unresolved, and skeptics like Microsoft’s Brad Smith have called into question the fundamental premise that computational economics favor space over Earth-based data centers at all.
Insider Monkey’s Bottom Line
This announcement is best interpreted as a reaffirmation of an already-known goal rather than fresh information, but the timeframe compression indicates Musk feels real pressure (or confidence) to deliver ahead of schedule. Investors in NVIDIA Corporation should view this as a mild, long-term demand tailwind that doesn’t significantly impact the near-term investment thesis. Investors in Space Exploration Technologies Corp. should keep a careful eye on Starship’s launch cadence and reliability indicators in the coming year, since that, more than Musk’s stated confidence level, will determine whether the fourth-quarter 2027 target is achievable.
READ NEXT: 33 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 15 Stocks That Will Make You Rich in 10 Years
Hedge Fund Resource Center