Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Plans a 32 Trillion Won Gas-Fired Power Plant and AI Center in Texas

[Financial News] Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to build its own gas-fired power plant and a supercomputing facility in Texas, with a combined value of $24 billion (about 32.3 trillion won).
Foreign media outlets reported on the 9th (local time), citing a public hearing notice for Starbase City in Texas, where SpaceX’s launch site is located, that SpaceX plans to build, own and operate the facilities itself.
The move comes as opposition to data centers grows in the United States, with SpaceX seeking to secure its own power supply and expand its artificial intelligence (AI) computing capacity.
The site covers about 1.8 million square meters in Starbase, and $24 billion is the project’s estimated investment at this early stage. Starbase, a “company town” with a Starship launch site and employee housing, was incorporated as a city last year.
SpaceX has applied for a property tax abatement for the project, and Starbase City will review the abatement proposal and an economic development agreement at a meeting on December 9.
If SpaceX builds its own power plant at the data center, it will not have to wait years to connect to Texas’s main power grid.
SpaceX rents computing capacity to Google, Anthropic and others.
Local outlet RGV Business Journal reported that SpaceX has applied to Texas environmental authorities for an air emissions permit for a power generation facility with 35 natural gas turbines and a capacity of 748 megawatts (MW).
Bloomberg noted that Democratic Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who has pledged to curb new data center construction, could pose an obstacle to SpaceX’s plans.
Bloomberg also analyzed the plan as an attempt by Musk to vertically integrate the natural gas value chain.
SpaceX is pursuing plans to build its own pipelines in Texas and Florida to transport gas for Starship rocket fuel, and is also directly hiring gas traders.
SpaceX plans to build its own gas-fired power plant at the large semiconductor factory it is building with Tesla outside Houston.

[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter