US-China Space Race Just Heated Up As Xi Jinping-Led Nation Wants Orbital Datacenters, Space Tourism

The race to dominate the burgeoning space-based AI compute sector, which outlines putting solar-powered AI satellites into orbit around the Earth for compute, just got a whole lot more interesting with China now vying to bolster its space-based compute presence. Orbital Datacenters In a news first published by the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on January 29, the state broadcaster shared that the Xi Jinping-led country's China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation outlined a five-year plan to achieve its goals. The report mentions that the country wants to build "gigawatt-level space digital infrastructure," to support space-based data processing, as well as looking at procuring resources from Space. The country is exploring ways to conduct "asteroid resource exploration," as well as autonomous extraction of minerals and "in-orbit processing." Elon Musk’s Ambitions These moves would put China squarely against the U.S.'s NASA, as well as private companies like Elon Musk-backed SpaceX. Musk, on several occasions, has touted the idea of orbital datacenters, as well as building civilizations on other planets. China's research into the sector could push U.S.-based stakeholders to expedite their developmental processes. It's worth noting that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) recently announced a breakthrough in its space-based AI ambitions as its Qwen-3 model became the world’s first general-purpose AI to run inference in orbit. Space Tourism The report also highlighted Space tourism opportunities being explored in China. The country aims to "establish a comprehensive space tourism operation system," the report said. According to a report by Asia Business Daily on January 22, a Chinese company, InterstellOr, is targeting its maiden crewed flight in 2028, with bookings already underway. The company says tickets would be around RMB 3 Million or approximately $430,000. Blue Origin’s Role Interestingly, Jeff Bezos-backed space flight company Blue Origin has been one of the leaders in space tourism, organizing crewed flights to suborbital space. However, the company recently halted those flights in favor of directing resources towards NASA's Artemis Mission to the Moon. Blue Origin had also made history last year by launching the first all-women crew into suborbital space, including pop star Katy Perry as well as Bezos' then-fiancée Lauren Sánchez. Jared Isaacman Backs NASA Artemis Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's NASA Administrator and former Shift4 Payments Inc. (NASDAQ:FOUR) CEO Jared Isaacman has backed the agency's goal of reaching the Lunar surface, as well as putting humans on Mars. Isaacman also touted building nuclear-powered spaceships, which he said would enable the U.S. to realize its Mars ambitions. It'll be interesting to see who emerges on top of the space race between the world's two biggest superpowers, but the fact remains that the pressure to outdo the other could lead to some really exciting technological breakthroughs in the future. Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link Photo courtesy: Tomas Ragina via Shutterstock