Now, it seems that SpaceXSI wants to build another site in Texas that would lie in a city that mostly sits on land owned by SpaceX and whose population mostly comprises its own employees. The project might face reduced local opposition compared to the company's Memphis facilities, as Starbase is essentially a company town for SpaceX. But Hinojosa's arrival in the governor's office could trump that seemingly permissible local regulatory climate.
The project would seem to be a part of SpaceX’s push to build 10 gigawatts of compute in 2027 alone, and the $24 billion budget for this new facility could make it one of the biggest and most expensive data center projects focused on a single site. The company's announcement also notes that the $24 billion outlay it foresees was only for the “initial phases of the projects” and that it could “include future expansions.” That suggests that SpaceXSI could invest in more capacity in Starbase, Texas, going forward, assuming the favorable regulatory climate the company likely hoped for in the area holds.
Beyond its new terrestrial ambitions in Starbase, SpaceX also remains hard at work on launching data centers into space. Musk has already laid out the plans for a first-generation AI1 compute satellite with a 150kW peak compute payload, and submitted a proposal to build a 1-million-satellite Orbital Data Center System to the FCC. That work could accelerate after data center measures lost big in the poll in the recent U.S. midterm elections. In a post-election post on X, Musk ventured that “data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”
SpaceX's plan to build more data center compute than Google's entire lifetime capacity in just 1.5 years is possible, say analysts
SpaceX starts in-house turbine blade manufacturing to boost gas-powered generator output for Elon's AI data centers
Elon Musk's SpaceXAI to add another 660,000 AI GPUs this year, nearing a total of 1.44 million in operation
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Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/elon-musk-wants-to-build-a-new-gas-powered-data-center-in-starbase-texas-usd24-billion-site-goes-up-for-approval-in-december-but-could-face-headwinds-from-new-governor#main
- https://futureplc.com/privacy-policy/
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.