Elon Musk Says SpaceX’s Orbital Compute Will be ‘Way Better’ Than Analysts’ Predictions by 2028—Starlink Could Become Earth’s ‘De Facto’ Internet

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk says the commercial spaceflight giant’s orbital data center satellites will cost far less than Wall Street analysts’ predictions ahead of Starship’s maiden orbital launch on Monday. Elon Musk Weighs in on SpaceX’s AI Compute Costs In a post on X on Saturday, user Jo Bhakdi said that Wall Street had priced SpaceX’s 1 GW of orbital compute to cost anywhere between $160 and $180 billion, but that his firm had calculated the costs to be “$68 billion all in, falling to $43 billion by 2035,” Bhakdi said. Wall Street says a gigawatt of $SPCX Orbital compute costs $160 to $180 billion. Bank of America puts it around $165 billion. Wood Mackenzie says $170 billion. BNP Paribas says launch alone runs over $100 billion.Our model says $68 billion all in, falling to $43 billion by… pic.twitter.com/RivwZRKroU— Jo Bhakdi (@JOBhakdi) September 26, 2026 Responding to Bhakdi, Musk shared his take on the costs. “Will be way better than that by 2028,” the billionaire said on Sunday, reaffirming his bullish stance on SpaceX’s launch and AI capabilities. Will be way better than that by 2028— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 28, 2026 Read Also: Elon Musk Says Moon, Mars Production Could Grow Far Faster Than 2X a Year Until ‘Natural Limits’ Hit Starlink Will Be Earth’s ‘De Facto’ Internet In a separate post, Musk reiterated his view that the Starlink satellite internet service could end up becoming the entire planet’s internet. “It is increasingly probable that Starlink will carry a majority of Earth’s IP traffic long-term,” Musk said on Sunday, in response to investment firm Mach33‘s CEO Aaron Burnett. “At that point, Starlink would de facto become the Internet and everything else would connect to Starlink,” Musk said as Burnett spoke about the firm’s forecasts on the Starlink V3 constellation deployments by 2028. It is increasingly probable that Starlink will carry a majority of Earth’s IP traffic long-term. At that point, Starlink would de facto become the Internet and everything else would connect to Starlink.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 27, 2026 Musk, last week, said that the Starship rocket’s first orbital launch will take place on September 28, after the company had delayed the launch from September 22. Musk had earlier said that the Starlink internet service would become more reliable than cable. Price Action: SpaceX shares were up 0.28% to $149.09 during overnight trading. Read Also: Trump Invites Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to Dinner as AI Safety Debate Rages, Says US Can't Slow Down: 'Why Should We Give That Up?' Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Photo courtesy: Samuel Boivin / Shutterstock.com