AWS Is Going To Space With Data Center Startup Starcloud Via Outposts To Run AI Models

‘I am excited to share that Starcloud will be the first to launch the AWS Outposts hardware to space on our second satellite launching in October this year, further enabling high-performance computing in space,’ says Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston.

Amazon Web Services’ on-premises hardware system, AWS Outposts, is being launched into outer space in partnership with space data center startup Starcloud.

Starcloud, backed by companies including Nvidia and several investment firms, has huge plans to deploy a constellation fleet of 88,000 satellites to train and operate AI models and other cloud computing services in outer space.

“I am excited to share that Starcloud will be the first to launch the AWS Outposts hardware to space on our second satellite launching in October this year, further enabling high-performance computing in space,” said Philip Johnston, co-founder and CEO of Starcloud, on LinkedIn this week.

Redmond, Wash.-based Starcloud has already launched a satellite with Nvidia’s H100 GPU on board in November. The startup unveiled it was running and querying responses from the satellite via Google’s Gemma large language model (LLM).

‘To The Stars, Through The Cloud,’ AWS Space Director Says

Clint Crosier, director of Aerospace and Satellite Solutions for AWS, said he is “very excited” about October’s launch of AWS Outposts into outer space.

“Extraordinary innovation, and AWS Space Team is very proud to be supporting,” said AWS’ Crosier in a LinkedIn post. “To the Stars, through the Cloud!”

AWS Outposts are large rack and server-level platform offerings that provide AWS technology to on-premises data centers or in edge computing environments.

AWS Outposts was created in 2018.

In 2025, AWS launched the second generation of its AWS Outposts racks with new support for the latest x86-powered Amazon EC2 instances; new simplified network scaling and configuration; and accelerated networking instances designed for ultra-low latency and high-throughput workloads.

Starcloud’s 88,000-Satellite Proposal

Starcloud is planning to deploy a massive number of satellites, up to 88,000, in outer space in the coming years. There are far less than 88,000 satellites currently in space orbiting Earth, with estimates of around 15,000 currently in operation.

Starcloud’s satellite constellation will be used to train and operate artificial intelligence models and other cloud computing services, according to a Starcloud filing with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

“These satellites will utilize the unique advantages of space: near-constant solar power, radiative cooling, and the ability to scale sizes and power levels not possible on Earth,” said Starcloud in its FCC filing regarding its long-term ambitions.

“Leveraging these advantages over terrestrial data centers, these satellites will deliver transformative cost and energy efficiency while significantly reducing the negative impacts associated with terrestrial data centers,” Starcloud said.

AWS Momentum And Sales Results

Seattle-based AWS is the largest cloud company in the world with a $142 billion annual run rate.

The cloud giant currently ranks No. 1 in terms of global cloud infrastructure services market share, owning 28 percent share of the worldwide market as of the fourth quarter of 2025. Microsoft ranks No. 2 at 21 percent global cloud market share, followed by Google Cloud at 13 percent share.

AWS generated $35.6 billion in fourth-quarter 2025 revenue, representing an increase of 24 percent sales growth year over year.

AWS parent company Amazon generated $213 billion in total sales in fourth-quarter 2025, with operating income of $25 billion.