SpaceX Proposes $55 Billion Chip Plant in Texas

SpaceX has proposed investing $55 billion in the initial phase of a massive semiconductor manufacturing facility in Grimes County, Texas, with total costs potentially reaching $119 billion across multiple phases, according to a filing on the county's website.

The project, known as Terafab, would create a vertically integrated plant for producing advanced chips used in artificial intelligence servers, satellite communications, autonomous vehicles, humanoid robots and space-based data centers. The filing describes it as a next-generation facility and requests a property tax abatement, which the Grimes County Commissioners Court is scheduled to consider at a public hearing on June 3. The proposed site is near the Gibbons Creek Reservoir, about 70 miles northwest of Houston.

Elon Musk, whose companies lead the effort, has described the facility as essential to meet surging demand for computing power. "We either build the Terafab or we don't have the chips, and we need the chips, so we build the Terafab," Musk wrote on social media. He added that Texas is one of several locations under consideration, signaling the site is not yet finalized.

The initiative involves SpaceX, which...