SpaceX Plans 10-Gigawatt Solar Factory Near Austin — Half the Nation’s Current Manufacturing Capacity

SpaceX is building a 10-gigawatt-per-year solar panel manufacturing facility on 858 FM 1209 in Bastrop County, Texas — approximately 30 miles southeast of Austin — according to permit filings and a $17,300,000 Texas Strategic Infrastructure Fund grant announced by Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) in May 2026. The facility would produce roughly half of the entire current annual U.S. solar cell manufacturing capacity when operational.

SpaceX has not issued a formal press release. The factory’s purpose, per reporting by KVUE Austin and Reuters: to manufacture solar panels for deployment on orbital AI data center infrastructure and for Starlink V3 satellites, which require significantly higher power generation than earlier generations. Director of Solar Production Noah Cowles is leading the project. Production is targeted to begin by the end of 2026.

The scale is unusual even by SpaceX standards. At 10 GW per year, the Bastrop factory would manufacture more solar generating capacity annually than the United States currently produces across all manufacturers combined. Bloomberg estimates the facility would be the largest solar manufacturing facility ever built by a private company in the Western Hemisphere.

• 10 GW/yrplanned solar panel manufacturing capacity — ~50% of total current U.S. solar manufacturing output— Bloomberg
• 1.1M sq ftfactory footprint at 858 FM 1209, Bastrop County, TX— Permit filings / KVUE
• 500+new jobs expected in Bastrop County— Texas Economic Development
• $17.3MTexas Strategic Infrastructure Fund grant from Gov. Abbott— TX Gov. press release
• End-2026targeted production start date— Reuters

The primary driver is energy demand for two converging SpaceX programs. Starlink V3 satellites require substantially more onboard power for the higher-bandwidth communications capabilities the next generation promises — manufacturing solar cells at scale in-house reduces costs and supply-chain dependency. The second driver is more speculative but has been referenced in SpaceX S-1 documents: orbital AI data centers, which the company has explored as a compute-delivery model for AI workloads that require geographic or regulatory flexibility unavailable on the ground.

Vertical integration of solar manufacturing also supports SpaceX’s longer-term vision for Mars colonization infrastructure — a planetary energy grid that would rely entirely on solar generation. The Bastrop factory is described internally as a “terrestrial pilot” for high-volume solar manufacturing at scale.

The U.S. solar manufacturing sector has struggled to compete with Chinese producers, who dominate global solar cell production with lower-cost manufacturing at massive scale. Current U.S. solar cell manufacturing capacity is approximately 20 GW per yearacross all domestic producers combined (NREL/SEIA estimates). SpaceX’s Bastrop facility alone would add 10 GW — a 50% increase in national capacity — from a single private investment.

The facility is being built independent of the Inflation Reduction Act’s domestic solar manufacturing tax credits, which primarily targeted crystalline silicon modules. SpaceX’s solar technology specifications have not been publicly disclosed, but the company is believed to be pursuing higher-efficiency multi-junction cells optimized for the power-to-weight ratio requirements of satellite deployment.

“This is exactly the kind of American manufacturing investment we’ve been trying to catalyze — 500 jobs, 10 gigawatts, made in Texas. The future of energy is being built right here.”

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) · May 2026