SpaceX's $24B Texas AI supercomputer heads to December hearing

SpaceX has disclosed a $24 billion, 10-gigawatt gas-fired AI supercomputing project in Starbase, Texas, with a public hearing on the power plant and data center scheduled for December.

The notice covers a gas-fired power plant and a supercomputing facility inside Starbase's city limits. Starbase hosts SpaceX's Starship rocket program, and SpaceX appears to own the new project. Its $24 billion initial cost could place it among the most expensive data center projects built around a single site.

What changes for Starbase residents?

Most land in Starbase belongs to SpaceX, and most of the city's population consists of SpaceX employees. The company-town structure could limit local resistance to a project inside the municipal boundary, reducing the political friction that accompanied the company's Memphis facilities.

That advantage operates at the local level only. Bloomberg reported that the project could face resistance from incoming Texas governor Gina Hinojosa, who campaigned against approving new data centers until the state legislature enacts stronger protections against potential harms from such projects. Hinojosa's arrival in the governor's office could trump the seemingly permissive local regulatory climate.

The December hearing therefore sits inside a two-tier approval test: municipal review on one side, statewide policy on the other. SpaceX's announcement says the $24 billion covers only the “initial phases of the projects” and may “include future expansions,” so the disclosed budget could rise if the company adds capacity and regulators allow the buildout.

For companies watching the buildout, the $24 billion figure sets a disclosed capital benchmark for initial phases, with more capacity possible. The plan also puts a 10-gigawatt compute target for 2027 against the same gas-turbine model that has triggered litigation in Memphis.

The Memphis precedent

SpaceX has been building out the Colossus I and Colossus II data centers near the Mississippi-Tennessee border. Both projects drew backlash, and area residents sued to curb pollutants produced by the many gas turbines needed to power them.

The Memphis litigation shows the pressure Starbase could avoid, though not entirely. Local opposition could have less room to organize where company ownership dominates the land and the resident workforce; the state retains its authority over data-center protections. A gas-fired campus drawing 10 gigawatts of compute also gives Hinojosa's policy campaign a visible target.

The orbital option

SpaceX continues to pursue orbital data centers alongside the Texas proposal. Musk has laid out plans for a first-generation AI1 compute satellite with a 150-kilowatt peak compute payload. The orbital plan remains a proposal, while the Starbase site moves toward a December hearing.

The company has also submitted a proposal to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a 1-million-satellite Orbital Data Center System. That orbital work could accelerate after data-center measures performed badly in the recent U.S. midterm elections.

Musk wrote on X after the election: “data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”

For investors and power-market observers, the split matters. The terrestrial project prices its initial phases at $24 billion for a 10-gigawatt site, while the orbital plans range from a 150-kW first-generation payload to a proposed constellation of 1 million satellites.

One needs a December public hearing and a favorable state climate; the other needs FCC approval and an orbital deployment. The Texas filing thus inherits Memphis's gas-turbine scrutiny even if Starbase's company-town structure blunts local opposition.