Key points
- SpaceX seeks a Starbase property tax abatement
- SpaceX's pending Texas air registration near the site
- How Gina Hinojosa's promised data center ban fits in
SpaceX (SPCX) is proposing to build a gas-fired power plant and a "super-compute facility" at Starbase, Texas, with an estimated investment of about $24 billion for the initial phases, according to a public hearing notice from the city. SpaceX also has a state air registration pending for electric generating facilities at a location consistent with the notice. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the agency reviewing it to stop issuing permits for data centers in September.
The Starbase City Commission will consider a property tax abatement agreement and a related economic development agreement for the project at its Dec. 9 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. The notice names Space Exploration Technologies Corp. as the property owner and the applicant. It gives no abatement percentage or term, no generating capacity, and no construction schedule, and it doesn't say who would use the computing facility.
The site is a tract of about 444 acres just east of Brownsville, between Boca Chica Boulevard and the Port of Brownsville. The notice places it inside Starbase's city limits and in the Cameron County Enterprise Zone. The $24 billion estimate covers "initial phases," and the notice says the project "may be constructed over multiple phases and include future expansions."
Texas law lets a city exempt a portion of a property's value from taxes for up to 10 years under the kind of abatement agreement the commission will consider. A separate law lets cities make loans and grants of public money to promote economic development. Some Starbase commissioners are also SpaceX employees, the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal reported on Nov. 8.
SpaceX reported $48.1 billion of capital expenditures for the first nine months of 2026. About $40.0 billion of that was in its Super Intelligence segment, which includes Grok, X, and its computing infrastructure business. The $24 billion estimate is about half of that nine-month total, though the notice gives no schedule for the phases it covers.
SpaceX applied for a state air permit in September
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality received SpaceX's application on Sept. 8 to register electric generating facilities under a standard air permit. The agency's record names the project the Boca Chica Facility. Its directions to the site run 6.75 miles east from downtown Brownsville on Boca Chica Boulevard, which is consistent with the tract in the city notice. The record lists the registration as pending. It doesn't mention the city notice or the $24 billion project, so it doesn't establish that the registration is for the same plant.
SpaceX filed a second registration for electric generating facilities on Sept. 17, at 1 Rocket Road in Starbase, and that one is also pending. The record doesn't say what either registration would power.
The state's online record doesn't give a plant size. The Nov. 8 report described a proposed plant with 35 natural gas turbines capable of producing 748 megawatts. It said Trinity Consultants filed an application with the state agency on SpaceX's behalf, but didn't give a registration number. SpaceX reported 1.7 gigawatts, or 1,700 megawatts, of nameplate compute at the end of September, up from 0.6 gigawatts a year earlier. That measure counts the power rating of the GPUs installed in SpaceX's data centers and leaves out cooling and other overhead.
The NAACP is suing SpaceXAI, the SpaceX company formerly called xAI, over gas turbines at another site. The lawsuit says at least 27 turbines with a combined capacity of at least 495 megawatts were installed in Southaven, Mississippi, without the required air permits. A federal judge let that case proceed on Oct. 30.
Abbott's permit pause and Hinojosa's promised ban
Abbott has issued two orders pausing data center approvals this year. On Aug. 3, he directed state regulators and the grid operator to stop new data centers from connecting to the main Texas grid until an audit of their power and water use is complete. On Sept. 21, he ordered the environmental agency to stop issuing new permits for data centers until the grid operator and the Texas Water Development Board complete an audit of proposed data centers. "Until they do, TCEQ will issue no permits sought by data center projects," Abbott said.
The Texas Tribune reported at the time that the second order appeared to address concerns that developers who generate their own power, known as building "behind the meter," wouldn't be delayed by the grid audit. SpaceX's Sept. 8 application reached the agency 13 days before that order. The state record doesn't say why the registration is still pending or whether the order applies to it.
The audit was expected to last until December. Gina Hinojosa, who defeated Abbott on Nov. 3, takes office on Jan. 19. She said in an Oct. 22 video that she would issue a ban on "all data center approvals until laws can be passed by the Legislature to protect Texans." After the election, SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk posted on X, "Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now."
Hinojosa has also asked the state parks agency to take no action on Boca Chica land where SpaceX has been reported as the prospective buyer. The Dec. 9 hearing covers the city's two agreements, and state air registrations are a separate process. Hinojosa is scheduled to be sworn in 41 days after the commission meets.
