Elon Musk has given up on solar power (on Earth)

The article argues that Elon Musk has moved away from his earlier vision of a solar-electric economy on Earth. It points to xAI’s embrace of natural gas and SpaceX’s interest in orbital data centers as signs that his priorities have shifted.

The shift highlights how AI infrastructure and data center energy demand are pushing even climate-branded tech leaders toward faster, denser power sources. If this trend continues, energy availability may become a bigger constraint on AI expansion than model design or chip supply.

Elon Muks's xAI has gone all in on natural gas, while SpaceX is obsessed with orbital data centers. What happened to the "solar-electric economy" he promised?