SpaceX proposes $24B gas plant and super-compute facility at Starbase, Texas

What happened

• A Starbase public hearing notice describes a proposed "gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility" that SpaceX would construct, own and operate, with estimated initial-phase investment of about $24 billion.
• The project site is a roughly 444-acre tract within Starbase city limits, east of Brownsville in Cameron County, and falls within the Cameron County Enterprise Zone.
• The Starbase City Commission is scheduled to consider the property tax abatement and a related economic development agreement at a public meeting on Dec. 9.
• Two of the three Starbase City Commission members are SpaceX employees: Mayor Robert "Bobby" Peden, listed as Vice President of Texas Test and Launch, and Commissioner Jordan Buss, listed as Senior Director of Environmental, Health, and Safety.
• The public notice does not state the value or duration of the proposed tax break, the plant's power generation capacity, or the precise scale of the computing facility.
• Cameron County said SpaceX had invested more than $3 billion in infrastructure at Starbase and employed or contracted more than 3,400 people there by 2024; the county attributed those figures to SpaceX.
• SpaceX affiliate Lone Star Mineral Development previously filed plans for an eight-mile natural gas pipeline called "Starpipe," slated to enter service by January 2027, according to a Reuters report.

Why it matters

The Dec. 9 vote will determine whether SpaceX receives a property tax abatement for one of the largest proposed private investments in the Rio Grande Valley, decided by a commission on which two of three members work for the company.

What is unknown

The tax break's dollar value and duration, the plant's generating capacity and the compute facility's scale are not disclosed in the notice. The $24 billion figure covers only initial phases. The project's outcome may be affected by Texas elected officials who have expressed reservations about data centers, though both have said they would work with Musk on AI. The 3,400 jobs and $3 billion investment figures were supplied by SpaceX to the county.