December 11, 2025 — 3.40pm December 11, 2025 — 3.40pm Save AP But in a world experiencing data centre fever thanks to the booming artificial intelligence race, even the notion of populating space with this infrastructure will get an investment case hearing. Down here on Earth, the appetite for these data centres’ processing power seems bottomless, while the immense energy and water resources needed to operate them are limited. Here in Australia, where the data boom is in its nascent stage, it has already outgrown the energy grid. It might sound like Alien’s evil corporation Weyland Yutani scouring outer space in interstellar cruiser Nostromo to mine ore, but data processing power is an increasingly rare resource. Even in the world of Silicon Valley’s bold claims, moonshot ideas and blue-sky values, this one feels next level. And before one writes off the Musk idea as sci-fi fantasy, the genesis of his latest tale comes from a Wall Street Journal article citing Bret Johnsen, finance chief of Musk’s satellite communications company SpaceX. The report said SpaceX’s value had doubled since July – and now stood at US$800 billion ($1.2 trillion). Hours after this report, there was a deluge of additional news reports suggesting SpaceX would undertake a public listing to even further raise its value. Remember, Musk owns 42 per cent of SpaceX, in addition to his 13 per cent stake in Tesla – which he is hoping to grow to 25 per cent if he jumps over a mountain of performance hurdles the board has set. Advertisement Even at $US800 billion, SpaceX would have become the most valuable private company in the world – surpassing OpenAI, according to analysts from investment bank Morgan Stanley, who took these media reports seriously enough to warrant their own investor report. SpaceX would attain 13th place on Wall Street’s S&P 500. This image from a SpaceX livestream in August shows the 10th Starship mission splashing down in the Indian Ocean. Credit: