… is the biggest source of power for civilization, says Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has now predicted that solar electricity will become ‘by far the biggest source of power for civilization,” as the tech industry is struggling with an energy crisis fueled by artificial intelligence.

Musk took to social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) about the growing energy crises. In a post shared Musk made a statement on the increasing global demand for electricity and how the industry leaders are racing to find futuristic solutions to power the next generation of data infrastructure.

‘Solar electricity is the biggest source of power’

“Solar electricity will become by far the biggest source of power for civilization,” wrote Musk. Tesla CEO’s made this comment in response to a graph showing the dominance of solar energy in electricity generation.

The timing is critical: global power demand is projected to rise by 30% by 2035, largely driven by the exponential growth of AI workloads. Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya also warned that this growing strain could lead to double electricity rates within five years, underscoring the urgency of finding scalable energy sources.

Tech giants looking for solutions

The energy crunch has prompted radical proposals from tech giants:

These ideas reflect a growing consensus that traditional infrastructure may not be sufficient to support AI’s energy appetite.

SpaceX Starship: The key to scaling solar-powered AI

Elon Musk’s own ventures are central to these futuristic plans. ARK Invest recently identified SpaceX’s Starship as “critical” to making orbital data centers economically viable. The massive rocket system could enable low-cost deployment of solar-powered satellites and AI clusters in space. Musk responded enthusiastically to Pichai’s post about Project Suncatcher, writing “Great idea lol,” while Pichai credited SpaceX’s launch technology as the enabler of such ambitions.