SpaceX Bought 830 Acres in Bastrop to Cast Its Own Turbine Blades and Cut 18 Months Off Gas Power for AI Data Centers

TechCrunch·medium signalXBlueskyLinkedInCopy link

TechCrunch reported August 30 that SpaceX quietly acquired roughly 830 acres near its Starlink plant in Bastrop, Texas between March and June 2026 to build a foundry for single-crystal turbine blades and vanes — parts that run at 3,000–3,600°F and that only four companies worldwide can currently cast. Musk claims in-house casting gets gas turbines online up to 18 months faster than waiting on suppliers, the same turbines already powering the Colossus data centers in Memphis where the NAACP has alleged unpermitted operation. Cited research from Virginia's Data Center Alley put eight gas turbines at 3.4–6.5 additional premature deaths a year and $53M–$99M in annual health damages.