SpaceX plans more than $74 billion for two supercomputing campuses

SpaceX has laid out plans to invest more than $74 billion in two supercomputing campuses, one at Starbase in Texas and one in Cochise County, Arizona.

The Texas site would generate its own power. The Starbase facility will generate its own electricity rather than draw from the public grid, on about 444 acres near the Port of Brownsville and the city landfill. The project summary puts that investment at more than $24 billion, while a later section of the same page puts it at up to $24 billion. The work has already generated more than 3,000 construction jobs and is expected to support more than 500 permanent jobs.

A city notice describes a gas-fired plant on the site. The Starbase City Commission is due to consider a property tax abatement on December 9.

Arizona still needs county approval. The Cochise County campus is expected to create about 5,500 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs. It would use dry cooling, with no planned industrial groundwater use and no new wells. Working with local electric cooperatives, the project could cut members' bills by up to 20%.

A petition with 2,400 signatures has asked officials to deny the permit, and a county hearing is set for December.

SpaceX has pledged $220 million for Brownsville water. The company has committed $220 million in private capital for water and wastewater infrastructure in Brownsville County, and has already provided $40 million to the Brownsville Public Utilities Board. Identified projects could add about 20 million gallons of water a day from sources other than the Rio Grande. That split is 8 million gallons a day of potable reuse and 12 million gallons a day of brackish-groundwater treatment.

The city and the utilities board keep ownership of the facilities. SpaceX is not acquiring water rights or preferential access. Without this capital, closing the funding gap through traditional financing could have cost local water customers more than $370 million over 25 years.

Cleanup has started at the old dump site. Portions of the property were used for unauthorized dumping dating back to the 1960s. SpaceX is removing debris that includes scrap metal, discarded appliances, old tanks, fiberglass insulation, construction materials, and thousands of illegally dumped tires.

The Arizona campus cannot proceed without the county permit. The Texas tax abatement is not yet approved. SpaceX has already invested more than $15 billion in related infrastructure at Starbase.