I had the privilege of hosting two remarkable founders from Y Combinator - Sam Mendel from Network Ocean and Philip Johnston from Star Cloud - who are tackling one of the most pressing challenges in modern computing infrastructure: the exponential growth in data center energy consumption and cooling demands.

Both companies are pursuing radical solutions to the same fundamental problem, but through dramatically different approaches. Sam’s Network Ocean is developing underwater and floating barge data centers that leverage the ocean’s natural cooling properties, while Philip’s Star Cloud is pioneering space-based data centers that can scale beyond terrestrial limitations.

What struck me most about their conversation was how both are responding to the same crisis - the AI boom is driving compute demand that’s outpacing our current infrastructure’s ability to efficiently support it.

The technical advantages each approach offers are compelling in their own right. Sam’s ocean-based solution achieves a Power Usage Effectiveness lower than industry standard, translating to cost savings for customers while eliminating the massive cooling infrastructure that consumes enormous amounts of water and energy. Philip’s space-based approach promises even more dramatic economics, with data centers costing millions less than their terrestrial equivalents. Both founders emphasized that they’re not just building alternative data centers - they’re fundamentally reimagining how we approach computing infrastructure at scale.

What became clear during our discussion is that these aren’t competing visions but complementary approaches to humanity’s expansion into previously untapped frontiers. Sam envisions a future where ocean-based infrastructure could power entire floating cities and provide grid-level energy storage, while Philip sees space as the ultimate scaling solution for compute-intensive applications that will eventually require Dyson sphere-level energy harvesting.

With Network Ocean’s 200-kilowatt pilot launching soon and Star Cloud’s first satellite scheduled for orbit in August, both companies are moving rapidly from concept to reality. The convergence of AI demand, energy constraints, and innovative deployment platforms suggests we’re witnessing the early stages of a fundamental transformation in how and where we build our digital infrastructure.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Data Center Revolution

05:08 The Technical Advantages of Underwater Data Centers

10:34 Building in Space: Challenges and Opportunities

16:00 The Future of Data Centers: Demand and National Security

21:33 Maintenance and Longevity of Ocean and Space Data Centers

31:15 The Growing Demand for Data Centers

35:58 The Limits of AI and Energy

42:21 Unlocking the Ocean Economy

51:50 Future Plans and Opportunities