Data Centers Out Of This World, with Philip Johnston (Co-Founder & CEO of Starcloud)

In this conversation, Nick Hume interviews Philip Johnston, co-founder of Starcloud, a company focused on building large data centers in space. They discuss the technological advancements that make this possible, including the significant reduction in launch costs and the innovative cooling solutions being developed. Johnston shares insights into the current projects, challenges of operating in space, and the regulatory landscape. The conversation also touches on the implications of data sovereignty and the future of AI in space-based data centers. 00:00 – Intro: Welcome to Tech Insider Summer Series 01:05 – StarCloud’s origin and the leap to orbital compute 03:50 – The economics of launch: when space became viable 06:56 – StarCloud’s first satellite and H100 in orbit 09:47 – Thermal and radiation challenges in space 14:25 – Custom cooling and radiator design at scale 17:44 – Solar in space vs. solar on Earth 19:01 – Debris, propulsion, and navigating orbital space 22:05 – Regulatory speed: from fab to orbit in six months 27:44 – Power stability and conditioning in orbit 32:12 – Training vs. inference workloads in space 41:00 – Nuclear vs. orbital compute: is space still necessary? 44:00 – The sustainability reckoning facing hyperscalers 45:38 – Wrap-up and what’s next for StarCloud #Starcloud #datacenters #technology #cooling #power #AI #datasovereignty #space