SpaceX Starbase $24B Supercomputer — Dec 9 Public Hearing for Gas Plant + Compute Complex
Published · Updated · By Investus editorial desk (SUNRYU Partners)
SpaceX filed a public hearing notice in the City of Starbase, Texas for a December 9 vote on tax-abatement agreements for a gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility. The proposed 444-acre site near the Port of Brownsville carries an estimated initial investment of $24 billion — the largest single AI infrastructure site in US history.
What happened
SpaceX submitted a public hearing notice to the City Commission of Starbase, Texas. On December 9, 2026, the City Commission will consider approval of a property tax abatement agreement (Texas Tax Code §312) and a related economic development agreement (Chapter 380) for a gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility within the Cameron County Enterprise Zone. The proposed site is an approximately 444-acre tract near the Port of Brownsville; estimated capital investment for initial phases is approximately $24 billion, with future expansions described.
The notice specifies that SpaceX proposes to construct, own, and operate the facility. A job posting for the project references 'the Starbase AI supercomputer' and describes plans for approximately 35 temporary gas turbines to supply on-site power.
More detail
Starbase is already home to SpaceX's Starship development and Boca Chica rocket manufacturing campus. Co-locating an AI supercomputer complex at the same site would concentrate rocket engineering, satellite manufacturing, AI inference, and training infrastructure on one campus. The build could support low-latency AI inference for Starlink satellite operations and serve as the development platform for Terafab AI chip R&D.
$24 billion in context: xAI's Colossus (Memphis) is estimated at $6–10 billion for ~1.1M GPU-equivalent capacity. Most individual US cloud data-center projects run $1–2 billion. At $24 billion, the Starbase complex would be the largest single AI infrastructure site investment in US history. Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa has requested a pause on new data-center approvals; how that interacts with this local hearing on tax abatements is an open question that makes the December 9 date a key checkpoint.
Analyst and house views
AI infrastructure analysts have begun listing the Starbase project alongside xAI Colossus and Microsoft Stargate as one of three defining US AI supercluster projects for 2026–2027. Direct investment in SpaceX is not currently available to public market investors, but indirect beneficiaries being cited include Caterpillar (power generation), GE Vernova (gas turbines), and Texas grid-exposed power producers such as Vistra and NRG Energy.
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