Insurance will play a vital role in enabling artificial intelligence data centres to be put into orbit — and talks are already happening between underwriters, brokers and the space industry.

Companies including Elon Musk’s SpaceX plan to put data centres in space, seeking to tap into solar energy for the power-hungry plants that are the engines of AI.

Demand is burgeoning as AI use grows, but earthly constraints on data centres include local opposition to construction and strain on electricity grids, especially in the United States.

Insurance coverage for the expensive hardware and the risks involved are of great importance to space companies seeking to access the ​debt financing needed to turn orbital data centres from concept to reality.

Reuters reported yesterday that insurance broker Marsh said several companies had approached insurers to understand what future coverage for orbital data centres might entail, without naming the firms.

Patton Kline, US aviation and space practice leader at Marsh, told Reuters: “We’re already starting to ‌see companies that are focused on data centres and companies that are ‌focused on ⁠digital infrastructure looking to the insurance community for support.”

Apart from SpaceX, others including Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, Orbital, Starcloud, Lonestar Data Holdings and Cowboy Space, have also signalled their intention to launch space-based data centres.

Lonestar told Reuters it recently held a briefing at ​Marsh’s offices for insurance marketplace Lloyd’s of London, attended by about 25 insurers.

Insurers already cover launch failures, satellite malfunctions, orbital debris and space weather in a global space market that collects roughly $500 million in annual premiums, Reuters said. Several Bermudian companies, such as Hiscox Re, participate in this market.

But while insurers have decades of ​experience covering satellites, they have little data on orbital AI infrastructure.

Kasey Roh, US head of Upstage AI, which develops ⁠AI ‌tools for insurance companies, said: “The conversations in the market are focused on whether the risk can be modelled, rather than what the premium should be.”

Part of the challenge is ​valuing rapidly advancing AI chips, which could be vulnerable to harsh conditions in space, said Orbital CEO Euwyn Poon.

David Wade, space underwriter at Atrium, told Reuters that venture-capital-backed start-ups would have to expand before there would be a major insurance market for orbital data centres.

“Until ‌we get past that early round of ⁠financing and start seeing some of these companies expand by raising debt, I ⁠think the insurance ​needs are very limited at the moment,” Mr Wade said.