TL;DR
SpaceX said Nov. 12 that it is advancing two AI computing projects: a more than $24 billion facility near Starbase, Texas, and a roughly $50 billion campus in Cochise County, Arizona. Both require local action, and details including Texas water use and Arizona’s power arrangements remain unresolved.
SpaceX said Nov. 12 it is advancing plans for two AI “supercompute” projects, one near its Starbase launch site in Texas and another in Cochise County, Arizona. The company puts their combined planned investment at more than $74 billion; both projects face local review, with proceedings scheduled in each location for Dec. 9.
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In Texas, SpaceX says it plans to invest more than $24 billion in computing infrastructure on an approximately 444-acre site between Boca Chica Boulevard and the Port of Brownsville. A Starbase city notice describes the project as including a gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility. SpaceX says the facility will generate its own electricity rather than draw from the public grid, but the city notice does not state the plant’s capacity.
Local outlet The 956 Report, citing an air registration SpaceX filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, reported that a temporary setup would use 35 natural gas turbines totaling about 748 megawatts, later replaced by eight turbines totaling about 708 megawatts. Those figures come from the outlet’s account of the filing, not from the city notice. SpaceX says the site is intended to train AI systems and help develop and test technologies for future space-based computing. It projects more than 3,000 construction jobs and over 500 permanent jobs.
In Arizona, the county application is filed by Tombstone Resources L.L.C. and covers about 747 acres near Cochise and an Arizona Electric Power Cooperative power plant. SpaceX’s project page identifies the planned campus as its own. The application describes up to nine single-story computing buildings, each about 493,000 square feet, built in four phases. The first phase is planned at about 1,500 megawatts; full build-out is described as approximately six gigawatts, with a 24-gigawatt-hour battery system. The application proposes grid power delivered through Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative and the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative.
Local Costs and Power Capacity
The plans would place large energy users in two communities through different power arrangements. The Texas project is presented as self-powered by a gas-fired plant, while the Arizona campus would depend on a major grid connection. Those choices matter to local residents and utilities as officials weigh infrastructure, land use, emissions and potential effects on electricity bills.
SpaceX says its Arizona proposal would use dry cooling, avoid industrial groundwater use and lower bills for members of the local electric cooperative. The company has also pledged $220 million toward water and wastewater infrastructure for Brownsville and Cameron County, and says it has already provided $40 million. It says those projects would add about 20 million gallons of water per day from sources independent of the Rio Grande. The company has not disclosed how much water the Texas computing facility itself would use.
The scale of the proposed investment gives the local decisions wider significance for the development of AI computing infrastructure. SpaceX says the Texas site would also support research on space-based computing. Whether the projects proceed, and on what terms, depends in part on local approvals and utility arrangements that are still under review.
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From Orbital Plans to Local Sites
When SpaceX announced on Feb. 2 that it had acquired xAI, it argued that rising electricity demand from AI could not be met with terrestrial infrastructure without imposing burdens on communities and the environment. The company pointed to data centers in orbit as an answer. Its November plans put two proposed facilities on the ground in Texas and Arizona, while SpaceX says the Texas project will help develop and test technologies for future space-based computing.
The Arizona county application, identified as SU26-22, names Tombstone Resources L.L.C.; the county documents cited in the source material do not name SpaceX. The connection is supported by SpaceX’s project page and by a Tombstone Resources statement for a Nov. 4 town hall saying SpaceX would host it. In Texas, the Starbase notice places the proposed site on land moved from Brownsville to Starbase as part of a water agreement, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX’s announcements and filings describe proposed projects, not completed facilities. The company said the two plans represent more than $74 billion in planned American investment. Reuters reported that SpaceX’s AI segment generated more than half of the company’s revenue in the third quarter; that is a reported share for that quarter, not a measure of the campuses’ projected revenue.
““Together, they represent more than $74 billion in planned American investment.””
— SpaceX
Key Project Details Still Open
Neither project has been described as fully approved. In Texas, the available city notice does not give the computing facility’s power capacity or water use, and the size of any proposed property tax abatement is not specified in the supplied material. The reported turbine details come from a local outlet’s account of an air registration.
In Arizona, the county application lays out a planned grid connection and SpaceX says cooperative members’ bills would fall, but it is not yet clear whether the relevant utility and regulatory approvals will support the arrangement or the promised bill cuts. The source material does not establish a final construction timetable, financing schedule or operating date for either campus.
Dec. 9 Local Reviews
On Dec. 9, 2026, the Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on the Arizona proposal. On the same day, the Starbase City Commission is set to consider a property tax abatement tied to the Texas project. Those proceedings may clarify local conditions and the projects’ next steps; the supplied information does not say when final decisions or construction milestones are expected.
Key Questions
What is SpaceX proposing in Texas?
A more than $24 billion AI computing facility near Starbase, on an approximately 444-acre site. The proposal includes a gas-fired power plant, though the Starbase notice does not state its capacity.
How large is the planned Arizona campus?
The application describes up to nine computing buildings and about six gigawatts of power at full build-out. The first phase is planned at about 1,500 megawatts.
Are the campuses approved?
The source material describes local reviews scheduled for Dec. 9, 2026. It does not establish that either project has received all required approvals.
What has SpaceX said about water use?
For Arizona, the company says the campus would use dry cooling and not use industrial groundwater. It has not disclosed the Texas computing facility’s water use; SpaceX separately says it is funding regional water and wastewater infrastructure.
When are the next local proceedings?
The Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hear the Arizona proposal on Dec. 9, 2026. The Starbase City Commission is scheduled that day to consider a property tax abatement for the Texas project.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
