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SpaceX Puts a $74 Billion Price on Two AI Supercompute Campuses in Texas and Arizona

A $24 billion Starbase facility will make its own power, while a roughly $50 billion Arizona campus of up to 6 gigawatts still faces a December zoning hearing and local opposition.

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SpaceX Puts a $74 Billion Price on Two AI Supercompute Campuses in Texas and Arizona
Pixabay — Pixabay Content License

Illustrative server room corridor

Illustrative image of a server room; not a depiction of any SpaceX facility. Image: Pixabay, Pixabay Content License.

SpaceX said on Thursday, November 12, that it plans to invest more than $74 billion in two artificial intelligence supercomputing campuses: one at its Starbase site in South Texas and one in Cochise County, Arizona. The announcement, made in a company update under its "Building the Future" banner, is the first time SpaceX has put a single number on the AI infrastructure buildout that now drives much of its business.

Reuters, citing the company's statement, reported that SpaceX expects to spend more than $24 billion at Starbase and roughly $50 billion in Arizona. According to Tucson.com's Reuters-based report, SpaceX's AI segment generated more than half of the company's revenue in the third quarter, a sign of how far the business has moved beyond rockets and Starlink since its June IPO.

Texas: A Self-Powered Facility at Starbase

The Texas project sits on about 444 acres of SpaceX-owned land near the Port of Brownsville and the city's landfill, between Boca Chica Boulevard and the port. SpaceX says the facility "will train frontier intelligence systems" for medical research, emergency response, advanced manufacturing and national security, and will help develop technologies for future space-based computing.

The site will generate its own electricity rather than draw from the public grid. A Starbase public hearing notice this week identified Space Exploration Technologies Corp. as the owner and applicant for a gas-fired power plant and supercomputing facility, according to Reuters and The Telegraph India. DailyMech previously covered the city filing for that plant.

SpaceX says the Texas project has already generated more than 3,000 construction jobs and will support more than 500 permanent jobs once running. It has committed $220 million to expand water and wastewater infrastructure for Brownsville and Cameron County, with $40 million already paid, according to Converge Digest and Yahoo Finance. Those projects are meant to add about 20 million gallons per day of capacity: 8 million from potable reuse and 12 million from brackish-water treatment.

The $24 billion estimate covers initial phases, with room for future expansion. The Starbase City Commission is due to consider a property tax abatement on December 9.

Arizona: The Bigger and Riskier Half

The Arizona campus is the larger bet. SpaceX describes a roughly $50 billion project in rural Cochise County, about 80 miles east of Tucson near Willcox Playa, expected to create about 5,500 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs.

According to Yahoo Finance and UPI, the site covers about 747 acres with up to nine supercompute buildings, up to 6 gigawatts of power at full build-out, and up to 24 gigawatt-hours of battery storage. The developer estimates $3.6 billion in transmission and substation upgrades. Yahoo Finance notes that 6 gigawatts is nearly ten times the 626-megawatt capacity of the nearby Apache Generating Station, and that local supplier Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative has not finalized a power agreement.

SpaceX says it will work with local electric cooperatives, use existing renewable resources, and could cut electricity bills for cooperative members by up to 20%. It says the campus will use dry cooling, with no planned industrial groundwater use or new wells, which is a sensitive issue in the arid region.

The project still needs county approval. The application was filed by Tombstone Resources LLC, without SpaceX's name on it, and covers four phases of about 1.5 gigawatts each, Yahoo Finance reports. A petition with about 2,400 signatures asks officials to deny the permit, and the Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a hearing in Bisbee on December 9.

Planned, Not Spent

The $74 billion is planned investment over time, not money already deployed. SpaceX gave no construction timeline, financing plan or chip supplier, and Converge Digest notes it has not disclosed accelerator suppliers, network architecture or commissioning schedules. Yahoo Finance adds that the figure may overlap with existing commitments, and that no contract has been disclosed backing the promised jobs or bill reductions in Arizona.

SpaceX shares barely moved on the news, according to Yahoo Finance, which suggests investors see it as a formal accounting of plans already partly priced in.

Why It Matters

The announcement places SpaceX among the biggest builders of AI compute in the United States, alongside hyperscalers and frontier labs. It also shows the two main strategies for powering these sites: building private generation that bypasses the grid, as in Texas, or partnering with local utilities and promising lower bills, as in Arizona.

Both models face scrutiny. Communities across the country are pushing back on data centers' demands for power, water and land, and the Senate this week advanced a permitting bill meant to speed energy infrastructure for AI. The outcome in Cochise County will be an early test of whether promises of jobs and cheaper power can win over local opposition.

Limits to Keep in Mind

Job counts, water capacity and electricity savings are SpaceX projections. The Arizona project has no approved permit or final power agreement, and the Texas plan depends on tax agreements that are still under negotiation.

What to Watch

December 9 is the key date, when both the Cochise County zoning commission and the Starbase City Commission take up the projects. Also watch for chip supply deals, a construction timeline, and air-permit filings for the Starbase gas plant.

How We Reported This

Based on SpaceX's November 12 company update and coverage from Reuters, UPI, Converge Digest, Yahoo Finance, Tucson.com and The Telegraph India, reviewed November 13, 2026. All investment, job and capacity figures are SpaceX's plans or estimates as reported.

Published and fact-checked November 13, 2026.

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

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