SpaceX plans $24 billion AI supercomputer and gas plant in Starbase, Texas

SpaceX wants to build an AI supercomputer in South Texas. It also wants to build the power plant to run it.

The company has proposed a gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility on a tract of approximately 444 acres east of Brownsville, near the Port of Brownsville. The estimated initial capital investment is $24 billion.

The City of Starbase is set to take up the proposal at a public hearing scheduled for December 9, 2026. On the agenda: tax abatements and economic development agreements tied to the project.

A power plant with a computer attached

The public notice for the project went out on November 6, 2026. It describes a super-compute facility with infrastructure for up to 35 temporary gas turbines.

Those turbines are expected to deliver an initial output of approximately 748 MW.

The supercomputer proposal also isn’t arriving in isolation. Construction activity at the site already includes applications for mass grading and air-quality permits covering temporary gas turbines.

SpaceX’s hiring has been dropping hints, too. Job postings from the company reference the “Starbase supercomputer” and its on-site power generation model, pointing to a growing internal focus on large-scale AI infrastructure.

How a rocket company ended up in the data center business

The backstory runs through xAI. SpaceX merged with xAI in February 2026, and the combined company has been building out AI infrastructure ever since.

SpaceX is aiming for total AI compute capacity of roughly 13 GW by the end of 2027.

Against that target, the Starbase site’s initial 748 MW output is a meaningful piece but only a slice of the overall goal.

Before this project surfaced, the company secured a $40 billion GPU financing deal with Apollo.

The political weather in Austin just changed

The proposal lands amid a shift in Texas politics. Newly elected Texas governor Gina Hinojosa has called for a pause on new data center approvals, raising open questions about whether the Starbase supercomputer could face regulatory hurdles down the line.

How a statewide pause would interact with a local hearing on tax abatements is not yet clear.

What this means

The on-site generation model is the detail worth watching. Pairing compute with dedicated gas turbines gives the company more control over its power. It also puts emissions, air-quality permits and local land use squarely at the center of the approval process.

That makes the December 9 hearing the first real checkpoint. The outcome on tax abatements and economic development agreements will indicate how much local support the project has, and how generous the terms will be.

If Hinojosa’s call for a pause on data center approvals turns into formal policy, projects like this one could face added scrutiny, slower timelines, or both. Whether a facility with its own power plant would be treated differently from a grid-connected data center remains an open question.

For residents near the Port of Brownsville, the stakes are more immediate. A 444-acre industrial site with up to 35 gas turbines is a substantial new neighbor, and the public hearing is their formal chance to weigh in.