Musk Eyes Data Centers In Space After Dem Sweep And He’s Already Laid The Groundwork

Elon Musk reacted to Democrats’ lopsided victory in Tuesday’s midterms with a one-liner on X: “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”

Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2026

Musk’s post followed a campaign season in which data centers had quickly become a hot-button issue.

Democrats have led the charge against the facilities. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VA) endorsed a national moratorium on data center construction last December. In March, he and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the “Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act,” which would halt construction until national safeguards are in place.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) has called for a national pause, and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) has pushed a “Data Center Bill of Rights” that would let communities decide whether to host them. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) issued an executive order with a one-year pause on state permits for new hyperscale centers.

President Trump, in response, has hammered the opposition. “There is a sick conspiracy going on against AI and data centers and the only one that is happy about it is China,” he said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also warned, “We cannot have a moratorium on the development of AI. Because then we will lose our edge to China, and that has serious national security implications for every American family.”

In October, Trump urged developers to win over towns and communities by paying residents a “dividend,” and said large centers are “mandated by me to make their own electricity.”

As an example, Richland Parish, Louisiana, handed teachers bonuses of up to $50,000, funded by a construction-driven tax bump from Meta’s data center.

The Daily Wire reported that a widely shared academic paper finding “limited evidence” that data centers boost local economies was co-authored by a graduate of China’s Zhejiang University. The researcher, Qiang Wang, said she majored in food science and that her time there didn’t shape her views on AI. A co-author called any suggestion of influence from the Chinese Communist Party “a serious allegation with no evidence behind it.”

National security analysts have flagged Beijing-linked online campaigns that try to raise local opposition to U.S. data center projects, aiming to slow America’s AI buildout.

Musk isn’t waiting around. His xAI runs two “Colossus” supercomputers in Memphis, Tenessee, and bought a third site in DeSoto County, Mississippi, named “MACROHARDRR,” which would push capacity to 2 gigawatts. It also filed for a $659 million Colossus 2 expansion.

SpaceX has asked the FCC to launch up to 1 million solar-powered satellites as orbital data centers. Musk predicts space will be the cheapest place for AI within 30 to 36 months.

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