Elon Musk: Digital Humans Could Generate Trillions; AI and Solar in Space on Track by April 2026

Elon Musk of Tesla (TSLA-US) and SpaceX outlined a coming era of digital humans as the next major economic engine, potentially generating trillions of dollars once the technology is fully unlocked. He set a timeline: within 36 months, AI expansion will hit a power-wall on Earth, making space the cheapest and most scalable location for computation and energy. Musk argues that solar in space can provide about five times the efficiency of ground sources without the intermittency and storage constraints. GPUs, including those from NVIDIA (NVDA-US), and specialized TPUs and Trainium chips are expected to achieve reliable long-term operation. He highlights a growing manufacturing gap with China, citing its dominance in refining, supply chain depth, and energy output, and warns the U.S. must pursue disruptive innovation to maintain leadership. xAI’s current revenue is about $10 billion, Musk said, but the long-term value of AI lies in digital output and the massive new economic scale it unlocks. He sees the service economy already outpacing traditional manufacturing, with companies like Apple (AAPL-US), Microsoft (MSFT-US), Meta (META-US), and Google (GOOGL-US) driving value through software. xAI plans to begin with high-impact, low-complexity use cases such as customer service, which Musk estimates is about 1% of global GDP, roughly $1 trillion, with little barrier to entry.