Elon Musk wants to build a s $24 billion gas-powered AI supercomputer in Texas company town
The city of Starbase, Texas, is set to vote on a proposed $24 billion data center to be built within its limits, but the SpaceX company town may not provide the friendly regulatory environment that owner Elon Musk might have hoped for.
A public hearing has been announced for a proposed $24 billion gas-powered AI supercomputer facility in Starbase, Texas, which is the site of SpaceX's Starship rocket program. The project, expected to be owned by SpaceX, initially set to cost $24 billion, could face opposition from incoming Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa, who has previously campaigned for stronger regulations on new data centers.
SpaceX has been building data centers in Colossus I and Colossus II near the Mississippi-Tennessee border, but these have faced backlash from local residents, who are suing to limit the pollutants generated by the facilities. SpaceX's new project in Starbase, which is effectively a company town for SpaceX employees, might encounter less local resistance compared to its facilities in Memphis.
The $24 billion budget is only for the initial phases, and the company could potentially expand capacity in the future, if the regulatory climate cooperates. Additionally, SpaceX continues to develop plans for data centers in space, including a first-generation AI satellite with a 150kW peak compute capacity and a proposal for a 1-million-satellite Orbital Data Center System to the FCC.
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