SpaceX Wants a Tax Break for a $24 Billion Gas Plant and Supercomputer at Starbase

A one-page city notice dated November 6, 2026, shows SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX | SPCX Price Prediction) asking Starbase, Texas, for a property tax break on a gas-fired power plant and “super-compute facility.” The notice puts the estimated capital investment for the project’s initial phases at $24 billion.

The Starbase City Commission will consider a tax exemption agreement under Chapter 312 of the Texas Tax Code and a related economic development agreement at its meeting on December 9, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. Nothing has been approved yet.

SpaceX closed November 9 at $142.07, up $7.80, or 5.81%. No source links that gain to this plan, and shares remain well below the post-IPO high of $225.64.

What the Notice Commits SpaceX To

SpaceX is listed as both the applicant and the property owner. It aims to build, own, and operate the plant and the computing facility on a 444-acre tract between Boca Chica Blvd and the Port of Brownsville. The site sits inside the Cameron County Enterprise Zone.

The notice leaves out the size and length of the exemption, the plant’s generating capacity, the scale of the computing operation, and who will use that computing power. SpaceX made no comment. Texas law requires any final agreement to list the kind, number, and location of improvements and to recapture lost tax revenue if the owner does not build them, so the December agreement should show more than the notice did.

Why SpaceX Wants Its Own Power

Having a plant could let SpaceX avoid waiting to link to the main Texas grid. A separate pending state air filing for a SpaceX “Boca Chica Facility,” reported by The 956 Report, covers 35 temporary gas turbines totaling about 748 megawatts. The 956 Report said those would later be replaced by eight permanent turbines totaling about 708 megawatts.

A SpaceX affiliate has also filed plans for an 8-mile gas pipeline called Starpipe, scheduled to enter service by January 2027, to supply Starship fuel production. The notice does not tie the power plant to that pipeline, but the two could share the same gas supply.

Renting Out Computing Power Already Pays

Third-quarter revenue rose 161%, and AI revenue grew ninefold. The AI division brought in $7.6 billion, which is more than the Starlink internet business at $5.2 billion. Because SpaceX leases capacity to outside developers such as Anthropic, each new site supports a business that is already paying.

The project’s estimated cost is about 17 times the value of SpaceX’s 18,712 Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), which is worth $1.39 billion. However, SpaceX held $93.52 billion in cash in the second quarter, so it can afford the project.

Political Risk Sits in Austin

Voters rejected data centers in 40 of 41 local ballot measures. In the November 3 midterms, Democrats won the Texas governor’s office, and Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa has said she would ban new data center projects until lawmakers pass rules.

A city built around SpaceX will probably approve the exemption. However, a city vote cannot protect the project from a state ban or from the state air permit, and either one could delay the timeline even if the tax break is in place.

What Could Decide Whether SpaceX’s Starbase Plan Moves Forward

The tax break, whose size has not been disclosed, applies to a company with a market value of $1,872,482,600,000. More importantly, SpaceX is aiming its own power supply at a time when its filings list getting enough power as a risk.

Shares are down 12.61% over the past month. AI revenue, meanwhile, is growing quickly.

The first test is the December 9 vote and the agreement’s terms. The second is any state action on data centers after the new governor takes office. A ban that covers private power plants would undercut this case, and so would a close below the post-IPO low of $104.83.

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