Episode summary
Dylan Jovine | Why Elon Musk Wants Data Centers in Space
Summary
Dylan Jovine argues that the next major military and AI edge will come from moving data faster, and he compares that race to the speed contest that reshaped Wall Street trading in the 1990s. He says that just as firms invested in faster software, fiber, and proximity to the New York Stock Exchange, military powers now need faster satellite communications, faster battlefield computing, and faster decision-making.
He links that idea to Elon Musk’s reported push for SpaceX to put data centers in space after a Pentagon meeting, saying space would be the “ultimate high ground” for military communications. In his view, wars are increasingly shaped by drone swarms, satellite links, and rapid information transfer, so putting compute closer to the source could improve speed and effectiveness.
Jovine also previews the company he plans to cover in the webinar, saying it already has partnerships with NVIDIA, Intel, and ViaSat and has received money from the Department of Defense. He presents it as a rare opportunity positioned at the intersection of defense, satellites, and space-based communications.
Key takeaways
- Dylan Jovine says speed, not just hardware, will determine military and AI advantage in the next decade.
- He compares space-based data centers to Wall Street’s race for faster trade execution and closer infrastructure.
- Jovine says Elon Musk’s interest in space data centers fits a broader Pentagon-driven push for faster battlefield communications.
- He claims the company he is featuring already has partnerships with NVIDIA, Intel, and ViaSat and has received Department of Defense funding.
- He argues that drone swarms and satellite-linked warfare make latency reduction a critical defense theme.
Notable quotes
“Success in warfare is based on speed”
“moving these data centers into space allows us to move the data faster on a battlefield, okay”
“They already have partnerships with Nvidia, Intel, and more importantly, Viasat, the second largest satellite company in the world in the United States”
“has the right tech and is in the right place and at the right time, has the right partners”
How the episode opens
Good morning. This is Dylan Jovaneau behind the market. Happy Tuesday.
Today is Tuesday, May 26th. We are live with our webinar today at 1:00. We look forward to seeing you, Charles and I.
And but today I'd like to talk about the military aspect of the company we're going to be discussing today in the webinar. And and really the problem This is kind of how I see this, okay? And it really ties in to Elon Musk's desire or goal to have SpaceX put data centers into space, okay?
Let me explain how. Back in the 1990s, when I was working on Wall Street, trading technology started to grow where you had software that was created that was actually doing these rapid-fire little clipping trades. And this software was so good and it was so fast that the Wall Street firms saw that these people who used this software were able to move faster than regular trading firms, right?
So, they were starting to make big money, okay? These were called the So's bandits for those of you who were kind of geeky on this stuff. And what happened is then the big banks started seeing the opportunity in the hedge funds.
So, they started moving in here, too. And what happened, I remember very clearly, is every advantage in speed matters. So, you had all these banks, all these Wall Street operators making their software faster, making their software faster, making their software faster.
And they also wanted to make sure that not only was their software fast, but it got to the New York Stock Exchange order execution fast, too. So, they started getting big data lines, fiber. Everyone started running fiber through their place.
Then, what they realized is if you get two software, if you get two companies two people doing the exact same thing, but they have all the same software, all the same fiber optics to move the data fast, distance mattered.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- space-based data centers
- satellite communications
- ai infrastructure
- drone warfare
- military modernization
Companies and tickers mentioned
- NVDA
- INTC
- VSAT
- Nvidia
- Intel
- ViaSat
Watch the episode
Watch “Dylan Jovine | Why Elon Musk Wants Data Centers in Space” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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