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Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to invest more than $74 billion in building two large data centres in Texas and Arizona, as the company seeks to expand its computing infrastructure amid growing opposition to such facilities across the United States.
The company announced on Thursday that it would invest more than $24 billion in a project in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley and around $50 billion in Cochise County, Arizona.
The Texas project will expand SpaceX’s headquarters in Starbase, a coastal community established by the company in 2025 in Cameron County. The Arizona site will be located in a rural area east of Tucson, near the borders with Mexico and New Mexico.
SpaceX said the projects would strengthen local economies by expanding tax revenues, creating jobs and generating additional funding for schools and public services.
The company pledged to work closely with local communities and adopt environmentally responsible measures at both sites.
In Texas, the facility will generate its own electricity, while SpaceX plans to invest $220 million to expand the water supply in nearby Brownsville.
In Arizona, the company said it would cooperate with local electric cooperatives and potentially help reduce electricity bills. The facility will use dry-cooling technology, which does not require water consumption for cooling, according to the announcement.
Both projects are expected to create hundreds of permanent jobs after construction is completed.
“These investments will expand local tax bases, generate substantial new revenue for schools and public services, and create economic opportunities that extend far beyond the facilities themselves,” SpaceX said.
The announcement comes amid growing political and public resistance to the rapid expansion of data centres, which require huge amounts of electricity and, in many cases, water to support artificial intelligence and cloud computing operations.
In Texas, data centre expansion became a major issue during this year’s gubernatorial election campaign. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa criticised outgoing Governor Greg Abbott over the rapid growth of such facilities.
Abbott subsequently announced a pause on new data centre construction pending a statewide audit. Both candidates supported restrictions on new projects, although their approaches differed.
SpaceX’s proposed Texas investment appears to address some of the concerns raised by Abbott, particularly regarding electricity generation and water supply.
Opposition to data centres has also crossed party lines. A Pew Research survey published in September found that 54 per cent of Republican voters and 68 per cent of Democratic voters would be uncomfortable with a new data centre being built in their local communities.
The debate has increasingly reached Washington, with Republican Senator Josh Hawley recently calling for a moratorium on new data centre construction, an idea also supported by some Democrats.
SpaceX said successful implementation of the projects would depend on strong partnerships with local communities, environmental safeguards and stable policies that encourage long-term investment.
