SpaceX Redirects Engineers to AI Data Center Operations Amid Revenue Surge
SpaceX has undergone a significant internal shift as it prioritizes its AI data center operations. Over 300 engineers have been reassigned from other divisions to address reliability challenges in the company's computing infrastructure. This move is part of a broader management shakeup that began in June 2026, with Wesley Salandro taking over as data center team lead.
The Colossus campus in Memphis, SpaceXAI's flagship facility, has faced issues with power and cooling systems, leading to a surge in engineering efforts to build redundancy and establish more rigorous testing protocols. The company has slowed expansion plans outside the Memphis region to focus on stabilizing its existing infrastructure.
SpaceXAI generated $2.6 billion in external compute rental revenue during the second quarter of 2026, with companies like Google and Anthropic using the company's computing infrastructure. The data center push is also connected to SpaceX's vision for orbital computing infrastructure, targeting an initial ramp-up of satellite production by 2027.