China is preparing to construct gigawatt-level AI computer systems in space rather than on Earth. In January 2026, China's major aerospace company CASC first announced plans to deploy a space-based data center network within the next five years. The necessary technologies are being rapidly developed, and on July 3, 2026, the "Space Computing Innovation Center" was officially inaugurated to research space-based chips, advanced computer systems, and AI models.
In addition to this project, Chinese tech company ADAspace has separately proposed launching a network of 2,800 computer satellites into space—2,400 satellites for AI data computing and 400 satellites for AI model training. The main objective is to directly utilize solar energy available in space and enable satellite networks to process data immediately at the location where information is collected.
However, this ambitious vision faces significant real-world challenges including enormous rocket launch costs, difficulty maintaining cooling systems for equipment in space, radiation hazards, and challenges in transmitting data back to Earth. As a result, these projects currently remain at the planning stage, and China does not yet have an actual operational gigawatt-scale AI data center in space.
Ref: Technology Innovation
