Meta bets on space-based solar power for AI datacenters

Meta has signed its first contract with Overview Energy to develop orbital solar capacity beamed to Earth, securing reliable baseload power for the compute demands of training large language models. Rather than waiting for grid upgrades or negotiating with utilities, major tech companies are now contracting directly with space tech vendors, treating orbital energy as a new commodity market that can be developed on their timeline. The deal shows that energy constraints on AI scaling are real enough that tech giants will invest in unproven megastructures instead of accepting grid limitations.