Carlo CocuzziAI Expert, Pod Cast Host, Real Estate Investor and Funding Specialist

Will Marshall: The Real Space Race Is Chips, Not Rockets | MOONSHOTS

15 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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Will Marshall argues that while cheap rockets matter now, the real space race will be won by whoever builds the most efficient chips. Google's TPUs cut energy use and spacecraft weight, creating an "NVIDIA tax" for everyone else. Chips, not rockets, will decide the future.

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Nobody has said that before. That's absolutely brilliant. It is not just about the launch cost. The launch cost is the biggest piece to get us to the threshold that makes sense. But thereafter, it is much, I argue, probably more about the efficiency of the compute than about the launch cost. The efficiency of the compute drives the amount of energy you have to dump, which drives the mass of the spacecraft, and that ends up being significant. So for example, Google TPUs are significantly more efficient than GPUs in a flops per watt standpoint. That really matters. Everyone apart from SpaceX has to pay the SpaceX launch tax right now. Everyone apart from NVIDIA and Google has to pay the NVIDIA tax right now. And which tax is more important? I actually say near term is the launch, but longer term is the compute. Chips are gonna be more important than launch for this game long term. That is fucking brilliant. That is absolutely critical. Nobody has said that before. That's absolutely brilliant.