"Silicon Valley venture capital godfather" is betting on ocean data centers, which may be more cost-effective than SpaceX's space route.

A startup company named Panthalassa is considering using seawater to power and cool data centers. The investors behind this startup are Peter Thiel and several Silicon Valley venture capital firms. Currently, Panthalassa is testing the Ocean-2 prototype unit off the coast of Washington state. This equipment can be seen as two parts: a 70-meter steel tower submerged beneath the sea surface, with a large spherical structure protruding above the water. When the waves surge, seawater flows up the tower through pipes into the top spherical storage tank, capable of generating up to 1 megawatt of power. Panthalassa believes that this technology route is more cost-effective than SpaceX's space data centers.