Elon Musk said on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026 that the Star Mind computer that SpaceX and Nvidia are designing together will reach volume production next year. "The Star Mind computer being co-engineered by SpaceX and Nvidia is far better than almost anyone expects and will reach volume production next year," Musk wrote on X, adding: "Working with the incredibly talented Nvidia engineering team is pure joy!"
Musk was quoting a clip of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang from his appearance on the BG2Pod podcast with Brad Gerstner, published Oct. 15. "One particular new market that we're going to go explore together is putting data centers out in space," Huang said in the clip. "Our two engineering teams are working super closely together to create a new type of server, a new type of architecture that might be super good in space and on Earth."
What Huang said about Musk
Huang said Musk uses Nvidia technology to train and deploy his own AI models and also rents out computing capacity. "I'm delighted that I love working with Elon," he said. "Nobody knows more about energy than he does." He added that Musk "loves the intersection between computing and the physical buildouts."
What Star Mind is
Star Mind (also written Starmind) is SpaceX's program to put AI computing in orbit, powered by solar arrays and linked back to Earth through Starlink lasers. Nvidia said in an Aug. 24, 2026 press release that SpaceXAI's first-generation Starmind AI satellite will be based on an optimized Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system. SpaceX's Starmind page lists the AI1 satellite's compute payload at 150 kW peak and 120 kW average, and says its Gigasat Factory in Bastrop, Texas is planned to build thousands of AI satellites starting as soon as late 2027.
Musk has been raising expectations for the power budget. On Oct. 1 he wrote that each Star Mind spacecraft "will have over 250kW of solar power," and he has said he is "cautiously optimistic" SpaceX can run its version of the Vera Rubin rack at close to 250 kW average power.
Neither company has published a launch manifest or production numbers for "volume production," and Musk did not define the term.
What it means for Tesla
SpaceX's Starmind page says SpaceX plans to make advanced AI chips at scale in a new fab that is "a joint project with Tesla," which is the Terafab effort we have been tracking. For now, Star Mind's first payload is Nvidia hardware. See also our coverage of TSMC's Terafab talks and Huang's call for U.S.-China AI safety talks.