technology ·
Elon Musk wants to build a s $24 billion gas-powered AI supercomputer in Texas company town
Starbase, Texas, which hosts SpaceX’s Starship rocket program, has just posted a notice of a public hearing for a gas-fired power plant and supercomputing facility within the corporate limits of the city.
The project has an initial cost of $24 billion and will apparently be owned by SpaceX. Bloomberg reports that the project could face resistance from incoming Texas governor Gina Hinojosa, who campaigned against approving new data centers until the state's legislature has enacted stronger protections against potential harms from those projects. Until now, Elon Musk's SpaceXSI has been building out its Colossus I and Colossus II data centers near the Mississippi-Tennessee border, but those projects have faced backlash, attracting a lawsuit from area residents that aims to curb the pollutants produced by the large number of gas turbines required to power those facilities.
The project might face reduced local opposition compared to the company's Memphis facilities, as Starbase is essentially a company town for SpaceX. But Hinojosa's arrival in the governor's office could trump that seemingly permissible local regulatory climate.
