Agnikul, NeevCloud to launch space-based AI data centres by year end

Space-tech firm Agnikul Cosmos on Thursday announced its plans to launch AI data centres in orbit in collaboration with NeevCloud, a deep-tech cloud computing platform, hosted on the extendable upper-stage of its home-built rockets. Agnikul founder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran said the company plans to use the upper stages of its rockets to host hardware and software in space.

Space-tech firm Agnikul Cosmos on Thursday announced its plans to launch AI data centres in orbit in collaboration with NeevCloud, a deep-tech cloud computing platform, hosted on the extendable upper-stage of its home-built rockets. Agnikul, which is developing 3-D printed rockets to launch small satellites, inked its first commercial agreement to launch an orbit-based AI data centre module developed by NeevCloud, an AI SuperCloud platform, into space. ''NeevCloud will deploy its space-based AI data centre and run real-time AI inference applications on this patented platform designed and developed by Agnikul,'' a statement from Agnikul said. The first pilot is scheduled for launch before the end of this year and after successful validation, NeevCloud will scale the network of more than 600 Orbital edge data centres over the next three years. Agnikul founder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran said the company plans to use the upper stages of its rockets to host hardware and software in space. ''Our convertible upper-stage technology lets these stages stay active and functional, turning them into usable assets that can host hardware and software in space including compute or data capabilities. That's the next step for a space transportation company -- you build, launch, recover, and then extend into orbit,'' Ravichandran said. Critical AI workloads for defence and finance can be processed in orbit under Indian sovereign control, mitigating geopolitical data risks, the statement said. It said by utilizing Agnibaan rocket's reusable upper stages, this partnership will help reduce cost, lowering the capital expenditure for orbital deployment. NeevCloud is among the first enterprises testing AI inference and cloud workloads on Agnikul's patented extendable upper-stage platforms in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This collaboration allows Agnikul to offer launch and on-orbit services, removing the need for customers to design or deploy satellites. Agnikul targets a fleet of assets in orbit with AI stacks that form modular Space Data Centre Modules (SDCMs). The alliance acts as a key enabler block for NeevCloud AI Supercloud scaling roadmap, allowing it to expand its network to 600+ orbital edge data centres over the next three years. This constellation will serve as a continuous, real-time AI inferencing capability that will offload heavy compute tasks from terrestrial devices to AI chips in space. ''We are not just building a data centre in space, we are building an entirely new layer of orbital inferencing infrastructure,'' said Narendra Sen, Founder & CEO of NeevCloud. By combining NeevCloud's deep tech expertise and sovereign AI architecture with Agnikul's orbital launch capabilities, the alliance aims to bridge the global AI access gap. The initiative will place high-performance AI inference nodes directly into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), enabling secure, ultra low-latency intelligence for billions of users and critical industries worldwide. The collaboration positions India at the intersection of two explosive markets-- the USD 255 billion global AI inference market growing at a CAGR of 19.2 per cent and the emerging orbital data centre and space-compute economy.

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