Subscribe

Artificial Intelligence

SpaceX Proposes $24 Billion Gas-Fired Power Plant and Super-Compute Facility in Starbase

A city hearing notice says SpaceX would build, own and operate the project's initial phases on about 444 acres, and is seeking a property tax abatement; generating capacity is not disclosed.

DailyMech Staff

Published

Last updated / Fact-checked on

SpaceX Proposes $24 Billion Gas-Fired Power Plant and Super-Compute Facility in Starbase
evgenia_axsenova / Pixabay — Pixabay Content License

Industrial gas-turbine equipment in a factory hall

Illustrative photo of industrial gas-turbine equipment in a factory hall; it is not SpaceX, Starbase, xAI, or the proposed plant. Some equipment markings are visible in the frame.

SpaceX is proposing to construct, own and operate a gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility in Starbase, Texas, according to a City of Starbase public hearing notice. The notice puts the estimated capital investment for the project’s initial phases at approximately $24 billion and says the project may be built over multiple phases and include future expansions.

SpaceX is seeking a property tax abatement. The Starbase City Commission will consider it and a related economic development agreement at its meeting on Wednesday, December 9, at 7 p.m. Central time (5 p.m. PT). Nothing has been approved. The notice gives no generating capacity for the plant, no scale for the computing operation and no size or duration for the abatement. Reuters, which reported on the notice Monday, said Bloomberg News reported it first.

At a glance

Item Detail Source/status
Project Gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility; SpaceX to construct, own and operate Hearing notice
Investment About $24 billion for initial phases; more phases possible Hearing notice
Site About 444 acres east of Brownsville, in Starbase Hearing notice
Hearing Dec. 9, 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT); tax abatement and economic development agreement Hearing notice
Capacity, computing scale Not disclosed Hearing notice; Reuters agrees
Turbines 35 temporary turbines, about 748 MW; later eight, about 708 MW The 956 Report, on an unreviewed TCEQ filing

What the hearing notice says

The notice identifies the applicant as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., a Texas corporation. The site is an approximately 444-acre tract just east of the City of Brownsville, between Boca Chica Blvd and the Port of Brownsville, inside Starbase city limits in Cameron County and within the Cameron County Enterprise Zone.

At the December 9 meeting, the commission is to consider a property tax abatement agreement under Chapter 312 of the Texas Tax Code and a related economic development agreement under Chapter 380 of the Texas Local Government Code. The notice invites interested persons to attend and be heard.

Reuters’ and Bloomberg’s headlines describe the project as a data center. The notice calls it a super-compute facility.

What the notice leaves out

Beyond capacity, computing scale and abatement terms, the notice discloses no jobs, water use, chips or customers. Reuters also said the notice gave no details on generating capacity or computing scale.

The 956 Report, a Rio Grande Valley outlet, reported that a state air-permit registration filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on SpaceX’s behalf in September describes an initial configuration of 35 temporary natural gas turbines totaling about 748 megawatts, later replaced by eight GE Vernova 7E turbines totaling about 708 megawatts. DailyMech did not review that filing. These are application figures, not an approved design. The hearing notice does not cite the filing or state any capacity, and The 956 Report says the filing does not mention a data center. The link between the filing and this project is drawn by local outlets, not by the notice.

Power, permits and SpaceX’s AI push

Reuters reported that building its own power plant could let SpaceX “skip a years-long wait to plug a project into Texas’ main power grid,” and that the project “would be among the largest private investments in the Rio Grande Valley.” Bloomberg Law, in an article DailyMech could read only in part, described the proposal as the latest sign that Elon Musk is seeking to vertically integrate SpaceX’s value chain for natural gas.

SpaceX acquired Musk’s AI company xAI in February, TechCrunch reported. The Verge reported that SpaceX’s third-quarter revenue was $14.6 billion, up 161% from a year earlier, and that its Super Intelligence segment brought in $7.6 billion, up 830%, which SpaceX attributed to new cloud services agreements, the acquisition of Cursor and Grok adoption. No source ties those results to the Starbase project.

Reuters also reported that a SpaceX affiliate, Lone Star Mineral Development, has filed plans for an 8-mile gas pipeline to Starbase called Starpipe, to feed a planned plant that turns gas into liquid methane for Starship rockets. No source ties Starpipe to the power plant or super-compute facility.

DailyMech has also covered on-site gas generation for AI.

What to watch

The December 9 hearing and any abatement terms; whether SpaceX discloses generating capacity, computing scale or customers; and any TCEQ action on the air-permit registration.

How we reported this

DailyMech fully read the City of Starbase hearing notice, the Reuters report via an Investing.com reprint, The 956 Report, RGV Business Journal, TechCrunch and The Verge. Bloomberg Law was read only in part because of a paywall. We did not see the TCEQ filing.

Published and fact-checked November 9, 2026.

Sources

DailyMech used AI tools to help research and draft this article; it was fact-checked by our editors.

In Artificial Intelligence

From other sections

Sections

The Daily BriefingSample

Intelligence, distilled. Every morning.

Sample briefing. A five-minute read of the most important stories in AI and technology, once this list is real.

Sample form. It does not work. The address is not stored or sent.