Nvidia Announces New Chip For Space-Based AI Compute In Boost For Orbital Datacenters

NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang has touted orbital datacenters as the chipmaker revealed its Space-1 Vera Rubin Module at the GPU Technology Conference on Monday. Space-Based Datacenters At the event, Huang revealed that Nvidia was working on its orbital datacenters goal. “We’re going to space,” Huang said, adding that the company’s THOR chip was “radiation approved” and that Nvidia was already using satellites for image processing. “In the future, we’ll also build datacenters in space,” Huang said, but also highlighted some challenges with the goal. “Of course, in space there’s no conduction, no convection, there’s just radiation,” he said, adding that the company still had to figure out how to cool the systems in orbit. NEWS: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced today that the company is working on a new chip/computer for orbital data-centers called Nvidia Vera Rubin Space-1."It's going to start data-centers out in space. Of course, in space there's no conduction, no convection, there's just… pic.twitter.com/Sf09xNHLLz— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) March 16, 2026 NVIDIA, in an official statement on Monday, revealed that the new chipset is capable of delivering over “25x more AI compute for space-based inferencing.” Sharing his views in the statement, Huang said that “AI processing across space and ground systems enables real-time sensing, decision-making and autonomy.” Autonomous Driving Pursuits At the event, the chipmaker also shared its autonomous driving developments, revealing that Chinese automakers like BYD Co. Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (OTC:GELHY) (OTC:GELYF) would be incorporating Nvidia tech into their self-driving efforts. NVIDIA also announced partnerships with Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE:UBER) and Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) as Uber will rollout Nvidia-powered autonomous fleet next year across 28 cities in the world. Elon Musk Bullish On SpaceX Meanwhile, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reiterated his bullish stance on the company’s AI efforts, sharing that the commercial space flight giant would exceed its rivals in AI efforts. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), too, will be launching its AI chip project, Terafab, in the coming days, which will be at the center of its autonomous driving pursuits. Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings show that Nvidia scores well on the Growth, Momentum, and Quality metrics. Price Action: NVDA surged 1.65% to $183.22 at Market close on Monday, but declined 0.24% to $182.78 during the after-hours trading session. Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Image via Shutterstock