A secretive SpaceX facility in Bastrop, Texas, may be part of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s latest effort to speed up the artificial intelligence buildout – not by manufacturing chips, but by producing the turbine components needed to power data centres.

On 30 August 2026, Musk said SpaceX is tackling a manufacturing bottleneck that has become a major constraint for the fast-growing AI industry.

SpaceX plans to build the highly specialised foundry for gas turbine blades in Bastrop, Texas. The move comes amid a growing shortage of high-temperature components for gas turbines, while the power demand of AI data centres in the United States continues to rise rapidly. Elon Musk sees the availability of cast turbine blades in particular as a key bottleneck in expanding new gas-fired power generation capacity.

An example of gas turbine blades. Picture Rapid Precision Castings

With this move, SpaceX is entering a manufacturing field that goes far beyond its traditional space business. As CEO Elon Musk confirmed on the social media platform X, the company plans to cast highly specialised turbine blades in-house. The new facility is planned for Bastrop, around 48 kilometres east of Austin, close to an existing Starlink facility.

The background is remarkable. The rapid expansion of AI data centres is driving a sharp increase in electricity demand across the United States. Despite the parallel expansion of renewable energy, Musk expects natural gas to continue playing an important role in providing additional power capacity for at least several more years.

However, new gas turbines apparently cannot be supplied fast enough. And according to Musk, one of the key bottlenecks is foundry capacity.

“The limiting factor for gas turbine production is casting the blades,” Musk explained. By bringing this process in-house at SpaceX, he believes the company could accelerate the availability of gas turbines by as much as 18 months.