一波民主党候选人在全美范围内——尤其是在得克萨斯州，这个全国数据中心热点地区、也是埃隆·马斯克旗下SpaceX的所在地——在周二赢得了州级和国会选举，其中许多候选人曾公开反对数据中心行业。这些结果让科技行业的某些角落开始寻求“天外”之解。
A wave of Democratic candidates across the country—and notably in Texas, a national data center hotspot and home to Elon Musk’s SpaceX—won their state and congressional races on Tuesday, including many candidates who voiced opposition to the data center industry. The results have sent some corners of the tech industry looking to the heavens for answers.
近几小时来，数据中心爱好者在社交媒体上宣称，他们对建设数据中心依然“看好”——只是不一定在得克萨斯州，甚至不一定在地球上。他们说，是时候专注于太空数据中心了。
In recent hours, data center enthusiasts have proclaimed on social media that they’re still “bullish” on building data centers—just not necessarily in Texas, or even on Earth at all. Instead, they say, it’s time to focus on data centers in space.
埃隆·马斯克——他投入超过4亿美元个人财富支持共和党候选人，而这些候选人在中期选举中全部落败——一直是推动这一论调的先锋之一。“太空数据中心现在看起来相当有吸引力，”马斯克在周三凌晨发帖称，当时民主党已明显夺得众议院和参议院控制权。
Elon Musk—who sank more than $400 million of his fortune supporting Republican candidates who all went on to lose their midterms races—has been among those leading the charge. “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Musk posted on X in the early hours of Wednesday, after it was clear that Democrats had taken the House and Senate.
Jordan Lasker——也就是科技圈热门账号“Crémieux”背后的推手，他以种族伪科学闻名，也对此发表了看法，称：“太空中的数据中心是个了不起的想法，任何质疑的人都还没有充分考虑到今晚的选举结果。”
Jordan Lasker—the man behind the X account "Crémieux,” which is a popular follow in the tech world, and known for posting race-based pseudoscience—also weighed in, saying, “Data centers in space are an incredible idea and anyone who doubted them didn't think enough about tonight's election results.”
当天，Musk的员工、科技投资人、AI研究者、风险投资人以及行业人士纷纷加入了对太空数据中心的支持声浪。技术乐观主义智库“美国创新基金会”的研究员Soham Mehta表示，海底数据中心也应该被考虑。（今年6月，中国开始运营其自称全球首个海底数据中心。）一些公司已经在尝试将计算能力送入轨道。其中包括Google，该公司发射了一颗据称包含“数据中心级TPU”的卫星；还有SpaceX，该公司表示计划最早于2027年底部署“数千颗AI卫星”。
Throughout the day, Musk employees, tech investors, AI researchers, venture capitalists, and industry fans joined the chorus of support for space-based data centers. Soham Mehta, a research fellow at the techno-optimist think tank Foundation for American Innovation, argued that underwater data centers should also be considered. (In June, China began operating what it claims is the world’s first underwater data center.) Some companies are already trying to put compute in orbit. Among them are Google, which launched a satellite that it says contains "data center class TPU,” and SpaceX, which says it aims to deploy “thousands of AI satellites starting as soon as late 2027.”
Blue Origin同样参与其中，已申请联邦通信委员会许可，发射5万颗卫星，构成一个”轨道数据中心系统”。此外，还有一些初创企业致力于在太空建造数据中心，其中包括Starcloud，该公司声称于2025年11月将“首颗NVIDIA H100 GPU送入轨道”。
Blue Origin is also in the mix, having filed for a Federal Communications Commission permit to launch 50,000 satellites that will constitute an “orbital data center system.”There are also a few startups aiming to build data centers in space, including Starcloud, which claims to have carried "the first NVIDIA H100 GPU into orbit" in November 2025.
尽管在技术上可行，但太空数据中心的现实困难不少。除了成本远高于地面数据中心、难以发展到超大规模规模之外，还受限于卫星发射的风险和不确定性。
Despite being technically possible, the realities of in-orbit data centers are difficult. Among other things, space-based data centers are much more expensive than land-based ones, can’t grow to hyperscale size, and are subject to the risks and whims of satellite launches.
关于德克萨斯州的数据中心，科技圈大佬们的担忧并非完全没有道理。专家告诉《连线》杂志，领导层的变动可能会带来一些具体的行业变化——尽管这些变化存在一定限制。
When it comes to Texas data centers, the concerns of tech bros aren’t completely unfounded. Experts tell WIRED that the change in leadership could translate to some concrete changes in the industry—albeit with limits.
虽然民主党控制了德克萨斯州众议院，但共和党仍掌握州参议院。德州奥斯汀大学土地利用与环境规划教授罗伯特·帕特森（Robert Paterson）告诉《WIRED》杂志，分裂意味着一些立即的改革尝试“可能会受到一定阻碍”。非营利消费者维权组织公共公民（Public Citizen）德州办事处主任阿德里安·谢利（Adrian Shelley）告诉《WIRED》，立法机关很可能成为讨论高影响力政策（如重新分配州机构资源）的场所。
Although Democrats have control of the Texas House, Republicans still have control over the state’s senate. Robert Paterson, professor of land use and environmental planning at the University of Texas at Austin, tells WIRED that the split means that some immediate attempts at change “will probably be stymied a bit.”Adrian Shelley, director of nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen’s Texas office, tells WIRED that the legislature would be a likely place to hash out high-impact policies like the reallocation of state agency resources.
然而，他补充说，州长可以通过发布行政命令或要求州机构中政治任命官员辞职来实现更即时的变革。
However, he adds that the governor could effect more immediate changes by issuing executive orders, or requesting the resignation of politically appointed officials in state agencies.
谢利表示，这些监管机构——如德州环境质量委员会（Texas Commission on Environmental Quality）、公共事业委员会（Public Utility Commission）和德州水资源开发委员会（Texas Water Development Board）——有权对违反州法的行为处以罚款，或在极端情况下吊销数据中心等项目的许可证。但帕特森指出，德州开发商拥有特别强大的“既得权利”，这在其许可证获批之时就保护其项目条款，即使施工尚未开始。
Shelley says that these oversight agencies—such as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Public Utility Commission, and the Texas Water Development Board—have the authority to charge fines for breaking state law, or in extreme cases, to revoke permits for projects like data centers. But Paterson notes that Texas developers have particularly strong “vested rights,” which protects the terms of their projects from the moment their permits are approved, even if construction hasn’t begun yet.
另一条中期重塑德州数据中心行业的路径可能是赋予县更多权力。帕特森指出，近一半州内数据中心位于未设立市政的地区，这使它们不受城市分区法的管辖。
Another medium-term route to reshaping Texas's data center industry could be giving more power to its counties. Paterson noted that nearly half of the state’s data centers exist in unincorporated territory, which puts them outside the jurisdiction of city zoning laws.
帕特森表示，与其他州不同，德州县的执法能力相对有限。根据该州所谓的迪隆规则（Dillon's Rule），县只拥有“由州专门授予其的权力”。因此，虽然它们对县道的进出或洪泛平原的建设等事项拥有权力，但他表示，它们没有能够密切监管数据中心等项目的分区权。
Unlike other states, Paterson says, Texas counties have relatively limited enforcement abilities. Under the state's so-called Dillon's Rule, counties only have powers that are “specifically allotted to it by the state.”So while they have authority over things like access and egress to county roads, or construction on floodplains, he says they don't have the zoning authority that would help closely regulate projects like data centers.
帕特森表示，新任州检察长理论上可以调整州两年一期手册中的条款，该手册规定了县政府的权力界限。他还认为，即使在立法机构分裂的情况下，特别是由于反对数据中心的情绪跨越党派界限，州立法者可以提出一项可行的法案，赋予县政府“对数据中心的有限分区权力”。
Paterson says that the new attorney general could theoretically adjust the terms in the state’s biannual handbook, which establishes the limits of county authority. He also argues that even in a split legislature, especially since anti-data center sentiment crosses party lines, state lawmakers could propose a viable bill giving counties “limited zoning authority over data centers."
谢利告诉《连线》杂志，既然“数据中心是这场蓝色浪潮中的决定性因素”，即将到来的立法季将会“非常有趣”。
Shelley tells WIRED that since “data centers were a decisive factor in this blue wave,” the upcoming legislative season will be “very interesting.”
“数据中心行业没有表现出太大兴趣与州立法者或地方领导人合作，”谢利说，“我会很有兴趣看看这是否会改变。”如果不改变，还有近地轨道这一选项。
“I will say the data center industry hasn't shown a lot of interest in working with state lawmakers or local leaders,” Shelley says, “and I will be interested to see if that changes.”If not, there’s always low-Earth orbit.