SpaceX Commits $74 Billion to AI Data Centers in Texas and Arizona

SpaceX will invest more than $74 billion to build AI data centers in Texas and Arizona. The figure, roughly 100 trillion won, covers two supercomputing complexes the company is pushing forward despite a harder political climate for data center construction after the U.S. midterm elections. CNBC and other outlets reported the plans on the 12th.

The money splits unevenly across the two states. Starbase, Texas, receives more than $24 billion, about 32 trillion won. Cochise County, Arizona, gets the larger share at roughly $50 billion, or about 67 trillion won.

What does each site look like?

The Texas project is a study in self-sufficiency. SpaceX will build the data center next to a natural gas power plant on a site of about 1.8 million square meters. It plans to install 748 megawatts of generating capacity so the facility supplies its own electricity. That removes the data center from the local grid, at least in theory.

Arizona takes a different route on resources. There, SpaceX will use dry cooling, a method that removes heat with air instead of water. In a desert county, that choice matters. Water consumption has become one of the most contested aspects of large data center projects across the American Southwest.

The two sites are expected to create more than 9,500 construction jobs and more than 1,500 permanent positions.

Why is a space company building AI infrastructure?

The investment follows a shift in SpaceX's revenue base. The company's business has expanded rapidly from space and aerospace into AI. In the third quarter of this year, the AI division accounted for more than half of SpaceX's total revenue.

The chip pipeline is already in place. Last month, SpaceX agreed to a financial lease for graphics processing units worth about $40 billion, roughly 53.4 trillion won, to secure Nvidia's next-generation AI chips. That lease alone approaches the size of the entire Arizona construction budget.

What could stop the projects?

Power and water constraints tied to large data centers, along with opposition from local residents, are seen as risks to both sites. The opposition is organized and specific.

• In Arizona, residents have launched a petition against the data center and collected more than 2,400 signatures.
• In Texas, concerns have surfaced over pollution and the burden the development places on electricity and water supplies.

The politics will get a local test soon. The city of Starbase is scheduled to review property tax breaks and other incentives for the SpaceX project on Dec. 9. That review will signal whether local government matches the company's timeline.

Where does the Tesla merger fit?

As SpaceX builds out the data centers, observers say a merger with Tesla could be completed as early as next month. Analysts frame the logic in capital terms: Tesla's cash generation and energy storage technology could support SpaceX's heavy capital spending.

The boards of the two companies have been discussing merger terms and governance through special committees since last month, Bloomberg reported on the 12th. Two sticking points remain. The first is the size of the SpaceX stake to be offered to Tesla shareholders. The second is the separation of Tesla's China business. The combined market capitalization of SpaceX and Tesla stands at about $3.47 trillion, roughly 4,633 trillion won.

Are other tech companies slowing down?

No. U.S. big tech firms are continuing data center investments despite the Democratic Party's sweeping midterm election win. Their tactic has changed rather than their budgets. Companies are working with Democratic governors-elect by covering infrastructure costs themselves.

OpenAI has agreed to pay the full cost of expanding the power grid for its data centers and to disclose its water and electricity use. Microsoft plans to build its own generating capacity rather than pass power costs on to residents. CoreWeave has conveyed its willingness to cooperate on a bipartisan basis to Democrats.

The pattern is consistent. Builders pay their own way for power and water, and disclose usage, in exchange for political cover. SpaceX's gas plant in Texas and dry cooling in Arizona fit the same template of self-provisioned infrastructure.

For SpaceX, the $74 billion bet rests on one assumption: that AI revenue, now the majority of its business, keeps growing fast enough to justify the load.