Overview
- SpaceX and Tesla have announced Terafab in Grimes County with a first‑phase investment of $16.8 billion to produce more than one terawatt of AI compute a year and employ at least 3,000 workers.
- SpaceX says Terafab will be powered by newly built on‑site natural gas plants and very large battery arrays and will draw process water from Gibbons Creek Reservoir rather than local groundwater.
- Tesla filed a JETI incentive application for “Project Crystal Sun,” a $10.1 billion, vertically integrated solar cell complex in Fort Bend County that projects about 9,712 permanent jobs but says the site choice depends on tax breaks.
- Both projects are seeking Texas property‑tax and state incentive support, and local officials and residents are negotiating permits and asking questions about environmental, water and fiscal impacts.
- The announcements reflect a wider industry push to vertically integrate chips and energy for AI and robotics, but the full scale, partner roles, financing and multi‑phase costs remain conditional and could grow far beyond the initial price tags.