Overview
- SpaceX and Tesla confirmed on Thursday that the first phase of Terafab will be built in Grimes County with a $16.8 billion initial investment and a commitment to at least 3,000 jobs.
- The companies paid a $10 million nonrefundable upfront fee and agreed to pay $20 million a year for 35 years in exchange for property-tax relief that amounts to about a 78 percent abatement.
- Company representatives told residents that civil work and foundation preparation will start almost immediately and that official renderings of the more than 100 million square foot campus will be released within days.
- Key project details remain unsettled because earlier filings and local estimates cited much larger sums—$55 billion for an initial phase or as much as $119 billion across phases—and the formal roles of Intel and xAI are not consistently named in company texts.
- Local residents and advocacy groups have pressed for enforceable oversight on water, power, hiring and clawbacks while SpaceX says it will use industrial water from Gibbons Creek, operate the Navasota River pumping station, and build on-site natural gas generation to limit grid and groundwater impacts.