SpaceX Cleared by FTC to Acquire Optical Transceiver Startup Mesh for Data Center Efficiency

The Federal Trade Commission has given Elon Musk the green light to acquire Mesh Optical Technologies, a startup founded by three former SpaceX engineers that develops high-efficiency optical transceivers for data centers. The approval, disclosed in an FTC filing and first reported by Bloomberg, came after an expedited antitrust review.

Mesh Optical emerged from stealth in February 2025 with a $50 million Series A round led by Thrive Capital. The startup's co-founders, Travis Brashears, Cameron Ramos, and Serena Grown-Haeberli, previously built the optical communication links that connect thousands of SpaceX's Starlink satellites.

Optical Transceivers for Terrestrial Data Centers

The Mesh team saw an opportunity to apply their space-grade optical technology to terrestrial data centers. Light-based hardware is faster and more energy-efficient than traditional electrical-based systems, a critical advantage as AI workloads drive demand for higher bandwidth and lower power consumption.

• Optical transceivers use light to transmit data, reducing latency and energy use compared to copper-based electrical interconnects.
• Mesh's technology is designed for short-reach data center links, where speed and efficiency are paramount for AI training clusters.
• The startup's founders have deep expertise in free-space optics from their work on Starlink's satellite constellation.

SpaceX's Growing Data Center Ambitions

SpaceX has recently entered into agreements with Anthropic, Google, and the open-source AI developer Reflection AI to provide compute capacity at its data centers. This has generated a substantial new revenue stream for the newly public company. Acquiring Mesh could allow SpaceX to improve the efficiency of its data centers, whether they are located on Earth or, in the future, in space.

The deal comes as SpaceX expands its infrastructure footprint. The company has been building out data center capacity to support its Starlink network and to offer cloud-like compute services to AI companies. Mesh's optical transceivers could help SpaceX reduce power consumption and increase data throughput in these facilities.

Industry analysts note that optical interconnects are becoming a key differentiator for hyperscale data center operators. Companies like Google and Microsoft have invested heavily in optical networking to support AI workloads. SpaceX's acquisition of Mesh positions it to compete more effectively in this space.

What comes next: The acquisition is expected to close in the coming weeks, pending standard regulatory conditions. Mesh's team will likely integrate into SpaceX's data center division, with plans to deploy their technology across existing and future facilities. The deal also raises questions about whether SpaceX will eventually offer optical transceiver products to other data center operators.