SpaceX is seeking a property tax break from Starbase – the company’s incorporated town on the Boca Chica peninsula – to help build a $24 billion data center and gas plant facility.
The company recently reached out to the Starbase City Commission for approval of a property tax abatement and related economic development agreement. The commission – composed of three members, two of whom are SpaceX executives – will consider the arrangement during its Dec. 9 meeting.
Per the memo, SpaceX is seeking to “construct, own and operate a gas-fired power plant and super-computer facility.” The site will be within the Cameron County Enterprise Zone, which is constituted as a reinvestment zone within the Texas Tax Code. Located within Starbase’s city limits, the project will cover a 444-acre tract of land east of the City of Brownsville between Boca Chica Boulevard and the Port of Brownsville.
SpaceX is also in the process of obtaining air permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for the same area. Those permits, once approved, would enable the company to operate 35 mobile gas-fired turbines producing nearly 750 megawatts of power. The turbines are a critical aspect of ensuring the data center and gas plant facility will have the energy they need to operate while capping emissions under the federal major-source threshold.
The request comes during a period of regulatory transition for the State of Texas. With major state-level leadership changes imminent, gaining approval for the air permits and tax breaks would set the company on course to avoid interruption. However, even without the upcoming hierarchy shift, SpaceX and other development companies have been facing recent bipartisan reticence to unabated data center projects. In September, Gov. Greg Abbott instituted a moratorium on data center development until further audits are completed.
The data center focus is packaged with the company’s CEO’s vision for AI technology development over the course of the next year. According to a statement, SpaceX’s xAI is planning to expand to 10 gigawatts (GW) of terrestrial AI computing capacity by the end of 2027, matching or exceeding other leading tech companies’ efforts. The company’s current compute foodprint sits at 1.4 GW.
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