Musk calls space data centres attractive after his candidates' defeat in Texas

Elon Musk stated that placing data centres in space currently appears to be a rather attractive solution. He expressed this view following the results of the US elections, where his supported candidates suffered a defeat in Texas.

Political setbacks impact business strategy

The reason for the shift in focus is that both candidates, on whom Musk spent over $200 million, lost. This refers to incumbent Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton. Victory in the elections went to Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who will take office as the state's new governor.

Hinojosa pledged not to approve new data centres until clear rules for this infrastructure are adopted in Texas. It is in this state that Musk planned to build such facilities alongside the Terafab chip plant.

History of business relocation to Texas

Musk began moving his business to Texas in 2020. He was attracted by cheap land, low taxes, and the Republican administration, which had governed the state for decades. In 2021, Tesla moved its headquarters from California to Austin and built a gigafactory nearby. Subsequently, the headquarters of SpaceX and X relocated to Texas, and in February 2024, Musk re-registered SpaceX there as well. Currently, Texas hosts the Starbase launch site, from which Starship is launched, the Starlink terminal plant in Bastrop, for which the state provided $17.3 million, and the future Terafab chip plant with incentives of up to $1.66 billion. Musk also planned to build new AI data centres there.