SpaceX's Starbase Supercomputer Faces a Texas Governor-Elect Who Wants a Data Centre Pause

The Information reported that public records, job listings and steel structures going up with gas turbines parked beside them suggest SpaceX has begun work on a multigigawatt facility. One SpaceX job posting calls it the "Starbase supercomputer". CNBC also cited company job listings that refer to a supercomputer at the site.

The question is whether Texas, where Elon Musk's companies are based and where OpenAI and others have moved faster on large AI sites, will stay as easy a place to build them. Democrat Gina Hinojosa won the governor's race this week, defeating Greg Abbott. According to The Information, her win could delay parts of Musk's projects even if it does not stop them.

Deutsche Bank analysts wrote on November 4 that Hinojosa had "made data centers a major campaign issue". In a note cited by CNBC, they said she had called for a moratorium on approving new data centres and criticised tax breaks for large facilities. Reports of her campaign say she wants approvals paused until the legislature passes stronger protections on water use, electricity costs, local control and incentives.

The bank's analysts wrote that "we could envision SpaceX facing some incremental headwinds in this type of backdrop". They said SpaceX's Texas computing capacity could be delayed, and that capital spending might have to rise if tighter rules on data centres are adopted.

It is not clear whether Starbase or Musk's other Texas projects have already received the approvals Hinojosa wants to pause. No timetable has been given for the legislation she has called for.

The scale of the Starbase build is also uncertain. The research firm SemiAnalysis said this week that SpaceX is adapting the campus for two data centres that together could support "well over 1GW". It said work had moved from clearing ground in August to putting up frames and roofs by September. That estimate is lower than The Information's multigigawatt description, and SpaceX has not published figures for the site.

Across the company, SemiAnalysis estimates that about 3.6GW of SpaceX data centre capacity is under construction at Colossus 2 near Memphis, at Starbase and at a project called Terafab. It says SpaceX is targeting 13GW of capacity in 2027, up from 10GW about two months earlier. These are the analysts' estimates, not company disclosures.

Terafab is also in Texas. Tesla and SpaceX broke ground earlier this year on the $16.8 billion campus in Grimes County, which is planned to combine a data centre with a semiconductor factory. That puts a second large Musk project inside any new state rules.

Investors have already reacted to the election. CNBC reported that SpaceX shares fell about 9% and Tesla shares about 11% on Thursday afternoon. By Thursday's close, the two companies had lost about $456 billion in combined market value since Tuesday's close.

Musk built his first large AI data centres in Tennessee and Mississippi, and The Information described that early move as one that paid off. Texas was meant to be the next stage. Hinojosa takes office in January, and the next test is whether she can pass a pause through the legislature, and whether it would cover projects like Starbase that are already being built.