Few details about the project at Elon Musk’s multi-company complex 30 miles east of Austin are known, but a public notice for a hearing related to the commercial space company’s request for tax breaks suggests it will create at least 500 jobs.
The notice says the Bastrop County Commissioners Court will meet May 26 to consider a project at 858 FM 1209 that could qualify for the highest level of incentives under the Texas Enterprise Zone Program. Known as triple jumbo projects, such plans must create at least 500 jobs to be eligible for nearly $3.8 million in refunds of state sales and use taxes.
No other details of the project are mentioned, but the company recently suggested it plans to construct “one of the world’s most advanced solar cell factories in Bastrop.”
Earlier this month, SpaceX Director of Solar Production Noah Cowles invited engineers to apply for jobs there, with mention of the intensive work environments for which Musk’s companies have a reputation.
“Hands-on ownership of utilities, process equipment, cleanroom systems, and reliability programs during build and commissioning,” Cowles wrote on LinkedIn. “High-intensity, on-site, not a 9-5. If you thrive turning construction into flawless production, this is your shot.”
A job posting says that SpaceX’s plans for orbital AI platforms require massive amounts of solar power to support intensive computing workloads in space. To that end, SpaceX says it is “standing up one of the largest solar cell manufacturing facilities in the world.”
Already, SpaceX has indicated plans to build a vast facility in Bastrop. The company has filed requests for permits to build a 1.1 million-square-foot factory with two stories.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
The company’s Starlink subsidiary already has fast-growing facilities that employ more than 1,000 people at the Bastrop complex. The Boring Co., the Musk-owned tunneling company also has major operations there and Musk moved the headquarters of social media company X to the site, which also includes the unincorporated company town known as Snailbrook. Musk-related companies own hundreds of acres in the area.
After the announced interest in orbital data centers earlier this year, some experts pointed to the immense technical and economic challenges associated with the plan.
The latest activity arrives as SpaceX and its subsidiary, Starlink, plot other projects in Central Texas.
Last year, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that SpaceX had been awarded a grant of $17.3 million in state funds for expansion of its semiconductor research and development and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop. That was followed by SpaceX filing plans for an $8 million office expansion. More recently, the company indicated it plans to construct aluminum furnaces, according to a permit filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
SpaceX has also been eyeing growth outside Central Texas. In Grimes County, commissioners are expected to consider a tax abatement agreement for SpaceX on June 3. The facility being considered for the tax breaks is a semiconductor manufacturing and advanced fabrication facility, which Musk first pitched in March for a project he’s dubbed Terafab and said will be the largest chip manufacturing plant in the world.
