Google announced on Thursday its cloud unit has won a deal to supply computing and networking resources to SpaceX, Elon Musk's privately held spa

Google wins cloud deal from Elon Musk's SpaceX for Starlink internet connectivity

submited by

Style Pass

2021-05-24 17:00:03

Google announced on Thursday its cloud unit has won a deal to supply computing and networking resources to SpaceX, Elon Musk's privately held space-development company, to help deliver internet service through its Starlink satellites.

SpaceX will install ground stations at Google data centers that connect to SpaceX's Starlink satellites, with an eye toward providing fast internet service to enterprises in the second half of this year.

The deal represents a victory for Google as it works to take share from Amazon and Microsoft in the fast-growing cloud computing market.

Investors are counting on Google's nascent cloud business to boost growth in the event that its advertising business slows down. While Google's cloud business delivered only 7% of parent company Alphabet's total revenue in the first quarter, it grew almost 46% year over year, compared with growth of 32% for Google's advertising services.

It's also an unusual type of deal for Google -- or any other cloud provider -- as it relies heavily on Google's internal network that connects data centers, rather than simply outsourcing functions like computing power or data storage to these data centers.