May 12 (Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google is in talks with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for a rocket launch deal as the search giant looks to put orbital data centers in space, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the discussions.
Google is also in discussions about a potential deal with other rocket-launch companies, the report said.
SpaceX and Google did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comments.
A partnership with Google would mark the second time Musk made peace with an AI rival he has publicly criticized, ahead of a widely anticipated and crucial IPO for SpaceX.
Last week, Anthropic agreed to use the full computing power of SpaceX’s Colossus 1 facility in Memphis and expressed interest in working with the rocket company to develop multiple gigawatts of space-based orbital data centers.
In November, Google said it was researching space-based data centers under Project Suncatcher, which aims to launch two prototype satellites by early 2027.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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