See How Elon Musk’s Sunbelt Investments Are Reshaping His Business Empire

More than 20 years after Elon Musk got his start in California, the serial entrepreneur has expanded his empire with infrastructure projects across the southern half of the U.S.

This year alone, his electric-vehicle maker Tesla TSLA 0.32%increase; up pointing triangle and rocket company SpaceX SPCX -4.11%decrease; down pointing triangle have announced billions of dollars in new projects in Texas and Louisiana. The construction of new factories to quickly manufacture chips and solar panels and data centers to support the companies’ artificial-intelligence capabilities will take years.

“This is a massive capex year, but I’m confident all the things we’re investing in will yield incredible returns,” Musk told Tesla investors in July, referring to capital expenditures.

States are racing to offer lucrative tax-incentive packages to win new business from Musk’s companies and, in some cases, introducing laws that make it easier for the companies to operate.

In exchange, government officials hope to secure their regions’ economic future through increased tax revenues, new jobs, and higher wages for residents.

Texas has won the lion’s share of Musk’s infrastructure projects since his California exodus. SpaceX first leased a rocket engine-testing facility in McGregor, Texas, in 2003, taking over an old test site from the defunct Beal Aerospace. The state now houses operations for all major Musk enterprises: SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company and Neuralink.

Companies: SpaceX, Tesla

SpaceX and Tesla plan to spend $16.8 billion in the first phase of a project called Terafab, a joint venture that calls for a campus where the companies will develop and manufacture cutting-edge chips. The site would house a 100-million-square-foot factory, making it one of the world’s largest. SpaceX said its investment eventually could total $119 billion.

The rocket-and-satellite company said in a filing that the project would create thousands of new jobs in Grimes County, including more than 600 operations roles with an average annual salary of $159,181 when it makes its first hires in 2029. That is in contrast to the average annual household income in the county of $63,340 in 2025.

“We’ve never seen anything like that. We were in awe of that number. That is a good salary,” said Tom Johnson, president and CEO of the Greater Brazos Partnership, the economic development group in Grimes County.

Companies: SpaceX, Tesla and The Boring Company

Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters from Fremont, Calif., to Austin, Texas, in 2021. Just 20 miles away from the facility, Giga Texas, other Musk companies have completely overhauled what was primarily a rural, residential area.

His tunneling firm, The Boring Company, moved to Bastrop in 2021. That campus includes Snailbrook, a neighborhood of homes for company employees. It also has the Boring Bodega, a cafe and store open to the public that sells Musk-themed T-shirts, food and drinks.

Across the street, SpaceX in 2023 opened a new factory for building Starlink satellite internet receivers. A tunnel links the SpaceX and Boring properties, which straddle a public road.

SpaceX is now developing its Gigasat facilities, with buildings for manufacturing AI satellites and solar cells that the company said could eventually grow to cover 11 million square feet.

Company: SpaceX

With one Starbase site already operating in Texas, SpaceX is working to make another Gulf Coast area its home for rockets.

The company said it would spend $100 billion to build dozens of rocket-launch sites. The rockets would be dedicated to refueling SpaceX’s massive Starship vehicles while in space, a critical step that could eventually enable more frequent trips to the moon and potentially Mars.

At an event for the project last month, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the SpaceX development is different from those that sought to extract wealth from the state. “Today, what Elon Musk and his team is offering Louisiana is different. They are offering us a permanent future and lasting prosperity,” Landry said.

Before the announcement, Louisiana passed several state bills into law aimed at the aerospace industry. One extends a tax exemption for aerospace manufacturers, while another protects companies like SpaceX from noise complaints and other nuisance claims.

Company: SpaceX

SpaceX’s development of areas near Brownsville, Texas, has completely transformed the landscape.

The company broke ground on the project near the U.S.-Mexico border in 2014. In the years since, it has expanded the experimental rocket test grounds to include a launchpad, several bays for assembling the 400-foot-tall Starship, offices, staff housing and a hotel.

In 2025, SpaceX incorporated its campus into a new town called Starbase, Texas, complete with a city commission and a mayor who works as an executive at SpaceX.

Its footprint there is set to expand. On Monday, a federal judge cleared the legal pathway for a land-swap plan allowing SpaceX to convert a federal wildlife refuge into an expansion of the launch site.

Under that proposal, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would give SpaceX around 700 acres near Starbase in exchange for a similarly sized plot in another part of the county.

Company: SpaceX

SpaceX is expanding its data-center footprint with a new 660,000-square-foot campus and power plant, adding to a sprawling complex that spans two states in the greater Memphis area.

Once it is complete, the company will have three major data-center campuses in the area. Colossus I was built in 2024 by xAI, now part of SpaceX. The Colossus II campus, which includes Macrohard, Macrohardrr and Minihard, is still under development.

Those projects haven’t sat well with residents in the community. Earlier this year, SpaceX was sued in Mississippi federal court by the NAACP, which argued that the gas turbines powering the data centers pose a serious public health risk to the people who live and work nearby.

XAI filed a motion to dismiss the case with support from the Justice Department, which filed to intervene, arguing it would hurt U.S. national security if xAI’s data-center development slowed down.