TECH TALK and lower energy consumption than what’ s commonly deployed today.

• Reliability and replacement models that assume modules may have limited lifetimes and can be de-orbited and replaced more like fleet operations than traditional one-off spacecraft.

The concept of orbital data centres also raises new questions about infrastructure governance and sustainability. As more organisations look to deploy compute resources in space coordination around orbital traffic and debris, mitigation will become increasingly important.

At the same time the potential benefits are significant. Access to nearlimitless solar energy and the ability to position compute resources closer to observation points could transform industries ranging from climate monitoring to global communications.

AMD offers the building blocks for what’ s next

AMD adaptive computing has supported space exploration for decades, including image processing and navigation acceleration for NASA’ s Mars rovers and the Artemis II mission.

AMD’ s approach is to make space AI buildable, not as a one-off engineering project but as a repeatable platform journey. That starts with adaptive scalable compute building blocks that can be right-sized to the mission: CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs and accelerator options where they make sense paired with modular design philosophies.

This approach extends our established Edge playbook to the stars. By providing the same platform consistency we’ ve delivered for terrestrial deployments, we enable a repeatable journey where partners can evolve capabilities over time without re-architecting from scratch.

Just as important is openness. Space missions are assembled from many specialised suppliers and no single vendor can or should dictate the full solution.

AMD is investing in open software and open standards so partners can integrate tune and validate end-to-end systems with more choice and less friction. On the software side, AMD ROCm software is part of the open software stack for AI and HPC designed to help developers move from kernels to applications on AMD accelerators. On the systems side, AMD is helping drive standards for open security interconnect and infrastructure to ensure high-performance AI systems can scale without lock-in.

This emphasis on openness is particularly important in space where interoperability between systems from different vendors is essential. Standardisation can accelerate innovation by allowing organisations to build on shared foundations rather than reinventing core components for each mission.

New frontier: Scaling AI from Earth to orbit

The most exciting part of this conversation is that AI is expanding where compute can create impact, including environments that are remote, constrained and mission critical. By putting intelligence closer to where data is generated, we reduce latency, save bandwidth and improve mission outcomes. That’ s true in factories, hospitals and vehicles as well as in space.

This evolution is part of a broader wave of Digital Transformation in which intelligence is being embedded directly into infrastructure rather than centralised in distant data centres. As this trend continues, the distinction between Edge and core computing will blur, creating more distributed and adaptive systems.

In space, this could lead to entirely new classes of applications. Real-time Earth

KEY CHALLENGES FOR ORBITAL DATA CENTRES

• Thermal management in a vacuum environment

• Radiation hardening for long-term reliability

• Power generation and storage efficiency

• High-bandwidth communication back to Earth

• Maintenance and replacement logistics in orbit

AMD EDGE-TO-ORBIT STRATEGY

• Leverage terrestrial Edge Computing expertise for space applications

• Deliver scalable heterogeneous compute platforms

• Enable modular system architectures for flexibility

• Support open ecosystems and standards

• Focus on performance-per-watt and reliability

AMD CTO, Mark Papermaster

observation powered by onboard AI could enable faster responses to natural disasters. Autonomous spacecraft could explore distant environments with minimal human intervention. Orbital compute platforms could support global connectivity and scientific research at unprecedented scales.

At AMD, we’ ll keep doing what we do best: engineer for reality, co-optimise the full system and build technologies that scale efficiently from Earth to orbit and beyond. �

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