I told you so. Pairing data centers and electricity generation. Tesla!

Southern states like Florida and Texas have more business friendly policies, right to work laws, and a massive supply of immigrants which will soon become a skilled workforce for construction. Texas also has massive reserves of natural gas which will pair nicely with companies who want to build data centers (without causing electric prices to rise). Data Centers will be magnets for business expansion, more hiring and more investment. That means growth baby.

And Illinois? Left behind.

SpaceX is proposing a $24 billion data center and gas plant in Texas

The Starbase City Commission will consider a tax abatement for the project on Dec. 9, as Texas' incoming governor targets data centers

By Cris Tolomia, Quartz Media

Updated November 9, 2026

SpaceX is proposing to build, own and operate a natural gas power station along with a supercomputing site in Starbase, Texas, and the initial phases would carry an estimated $24 billion in capital investment, according to a public hearing notice from the City of Starbase.

The Starbase City Commission will consider a property tax abatement agreement and a related economic development agreement for the project at its meeting at 7 p.m. CT on Dec. 9, the notice said. Interested persons are invited to attend and be heard.

The site is an approximately 444-acre tract within Starbase's city limits, east of Brownsville between Boca Chica Boulevard and the Port of Brownsville. The notice said the project would sit in the Cameron County Enterprise Zone, which counts as a reinvestment zone under Texas tax law. The investment may be built over multiple phases and include future expansions.

The proposal adds to signs that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to control the company's natural gas supply chain, according to Bloomberg. SpaceX put forward a plan in September for a company-owned gas line in Florida that would feed Starship rockets at Cape Canaveral, and it has also brought on gas traders at both Starbase and Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX plans a natural gas power station to serve the chip-making plant it is building with Tesla $TSLA +5.54% in Grimes County, outside Houston, according to Bloomberg. Starbase was incorporated in 2025, and it houses several hundred SpaceX workers along with their relatives.

CoreWeave has written to Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa to propose collaborating on data center projects that are underway or still being planned. Hinojosa is the first Democrat to win the Texas governorship since 1990, and her campaign promise was a statewide moratorium on data centers. Republicans hold the majority in the Texas Legislature, which limits how much she can change state policy.

Hinojosa's election could create headwinds for Musk's plans, according to Bloomberg. Climbing electricity costs and worries about environmental harm have sparked demonstrations nationwide against data centers, one of them aimed at a Memphis complex tied to Musk's companies.