California-based Cowboy Space is taking a major step toward its plan to put artificial intelligence infrastructure in orbit, leasing a massive industrial facility in Kent, Washington, that will be converted into a production site for space and rocket hardware.
The company has leased a 291,035-square-foot facility at 7650 S. 228th St., with plans to transform the former Costco distribution center into a specialized manufacturing operation. According to Newmark, which arranged the transaction, the lease represents the largest industrial deal in the Puget Sound region so far this year.
The expansion comes as Cowboy Space works toward an ambitious goal: building solar-powered data centers in low Earth orbit to support the rapidly growing demand for AI computing.
From Warehouse to Space Hardware Factory
The Kent facility is expected to become an important part of Cowboy Space’s manufacturing infrastructure. The company plans to use the site to support the development and production of hardware for its orbital data-center and rocket programs.
Newmark said the operation could create around 300 jobs, adding to the growing concentration of aerospace and space technology companies in the Kent area. The city is already home to operations connected to Boeing and Blue Origin, along with other space startups.
For Cowboy Space, the move represents a shift from developing the technology toward building the physical infrastructure required to eventually deploy it at scale.
The company, formerly known as Aetherflux, is developing an integrated system in which rockets and orbital computing infrastructure are closely connected. Its planned Stampede constellation is designed to use solar power available in low Earth orbit to operate high-performance computing systems.
Building Data Centers Above Earth
Cowboy Space’s approach is based on the idea that AI’s growing appetite for computing power is increasingly constrained by terrestrial infrastructure.
Traditional data centers require enormous amounts of electricity, land and cooling capacity. Cowboy Space argues that placing computing infrastructure in orbit could provide access to abundant solar energy while avoiding some of the limitations faced by large ground-based facilities.
The company’s current concept involves using the upper stage of its launch vehicle as part of the orbital data-center system. Its website describes a 1-megawatt-class data center with integrated computing and thermal-management systems designed specifically for operation in space.
Cowboy Space has said it plans to begin sending its rockets into low Earth orbit as early as 2028, with the upper stages designed to serve as solar-powered orbital data centers.
$275 Million Funding Supports Expansion
The manufacturing push follows Cowboy Space’s $275 million Series B funding round, announced in May. The financing was intended in part to expand the company’s production capabilities as it develops its launch and orbital-computing technology.
The company is also working with Nvidia to deploy Nvidia Space-1 Vera Rubin Modules in orbit, adding another major technology component to its planned computing infrastructure. Cowboy Space has separately secured an agreement to test its propulsion system at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
The combination of funding, manufacturing capacity and propulsion development suggests the company is attempting to control more of the infrastructure required to make orbital computing commercially viable.
A Crowded Race for Space-Based Computing
Cowboy Space is entering an emerging market that is attracting several major technology and aerospace players.
SpaceX has discussed plans involving potentially hundreds of thousands of AI-processing satellites, while Washington-based Starcloud is also developing space-based data-center technology. Google is pursuing its own orbital computing concept through Project Suncatcher.
The challenge, however, extends well beyond launching computers into orbit. Companies must solve problems involving thermal management, radiation, communications, launch costs, hardware reliability and orbital debris.
For Cowboy Space, the new Kent facility provides a tangible piece of that larger puzzle. Rather than treating orbital data centers as a distant research concept, the company is now investing in the factories, propulsion systems and hardware needed to turn the idea into an operational infrastructure platform.
If its development schedule stays on track, the next few years could determine whether orbital data centers remain an experimental concept or become a practical extension of the AI computing industry.
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