Elon Musk says SpaceX headquarters to be in Starbase, Texas
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Mr Elon Musk is attempting to turn its Starbase site in Texas where SpaceX builds its Starship rockets into a new city and officially move his space company there.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Austin - Mr Elon Musk is attempting to turn its Starbase site in Texas where SpaceX builds its Starship rockets into a new city and officially move his space company there.
SpaceX’s headquarters are currently in Hawthorne, California, but the company has over the past few years been building out a massive facility in Texas in an area on the southern tip of the US state near the Mexican border.
The site in Boca Chica – dubbed Starbase by SpaceX – is the primary location where the company builds and launches its huge Starship rocket system. SpaceX’s operations in the area have created more than 3,000 jobs, according to a 2024 economic impact report.
Mr Musk said on his social media platform X on Dec 12 that the SpaceX headquarters will now officially be in Starbase.
SpaceX has roughly 13,000 employees. Its Hawthorne facility has been the primary location for production and processing of the company’s Falcon 9 workhorse rocket, as well as the larger, more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket. The extent to which jobs or facilities in California will transfer to Texas is unclear.
Despite Mr Musk’s post, there are several steps that need to occur before Starbase can actually be created as a new city in Texas, including permission from local authorities.
“To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community,” SpaceX said in a petition addressed to a Cameron County judge.
“That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley,” it continued. “Incorporating Starbase will streamline the processes required to build the amenities necessary to make the area a world class place to live.”
Mr Musk’s move to relocate the headquarters for SpaceX and X to Texas – something he initially announced back in July, citing a new gender identity law there as the “last straw” – adds additional fuel to the billionaire’s efforts to align himself with the political right and distance himself from left-leaning California.
Mr Musk also transferred SpaceX’s incorporation from Delaware to Texas earlier this year. This followed the shareholder vote held by Mr Musk to move Tesla’s state of incorporation to Texas, where it has its headquarters, after a Delaware judge invalidated his US$56 billion (S$75.5 billion) pay package.
In 2021, Mr Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters from California to Texas as well but said that California would remain its engineering hub.
Mr Musk changed his own residence in 2021 from California to Texas, where there is no state income tax on individuals.
His businesses have seen an enormous boost since the US election, with investors seeking to capitalise on his deepening ties to US President-elect Donald Trump
SpaceX is now valued at about US$350 billion after the company and its investors agreed to purchase as much as US$1.25 billion of insider shares.
The per-share price of US$185 is up substantially from the US$112 set in a prior valuation less than three months ago, according to an internal email seen by Bloomberg News.
The staggering valuation cements SpaceX’s status as the most valuable private start-up in the world, with a market capitalisation rivalling some of the largest public companies.
The insider share sale also boosted Mr Musk’s own net worth by roughly US$50 billion in one fell swoop to US$439.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the first person to reach the US$400 billion milestone.
