Jim Chanos Warns Elon Musk’s Space Data Center Math Could Be Way Off: ‘$5T Per GW…’

Short seller James Chanos questioned Elon Musk‘s projections for orbital data centers on Sunday, suggesting the economics could be far more expensive than what Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) management and bulls anticipate.

Space Data Centers Could Cost Up To 100x More

In a post on the social media platform X, Chanos quoted a post by the Techmeme handle that cited an article by The Information, which said that Amanda Peterson Corio, who is the Global head of Energy and Power at Google, said that space data centers could cost 100x more than terrestrial data centers.

“So $5T per GW…?!” Chanos asked in his post. “The fact that the head of data center energy at a hyperscaler is this far off from estimates from $SPCX management/bulls should give pause to anyone trying to model this business out.

So $5T per GW…?! The fact that the head of data center energy at a hyperscaler is this far off from estimates from $SPCX management/bulls should give pause to anyone trying to model this business out. https://t.co/X5GrF7b5mt

— James Chanos (@RealJimChanos) November 2, 2026

Chanos, who has been a vocal critic of Musk, earlier warned that the goal to establish data centers in orbit was “absurd.” Chanos also argued against power bottlenecks, saying that regulatory progress was a limiting factor instead.

Chanos also criticized SpaceX’s recent $40 billion GPU financing as the company ramps up terrestrial AI compute, even as orbital infrastructure remains a central part of its long-term growth strategy.

Elon Musk Backs Orbital Data Centers

Notably, Musk said that terrestrial compute would be “peanuts” compared to Orbital data centers in a post on X on Saturday.

“Orbital compute deployed per month probably exceeds terrestrial around the end of 2028 and then far exceeds it in 2029,” the SpaceX CEO added.

Terrestrial compute will be peanuts compared to orbital compute.

Orbital compute deployed per month probably exceeds terrestrial around the end of 2028 and then far exceeds it in 2029.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2026

Bill Ackman on AI Buildout

Investor Bill Ackman, who is the founder of Pershing Square Capital, said that companies like SpaceX, which were heavily investing in building out AI infrastructure, could incur debt that would rival entire countries.

On the other hand, Musk also warned that neoclouds, which are companies providing specialized AI compute capabilities, may not be able to access debt and that they were at risk of getting consolidated or failing.

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