Texas – Governor Greg Abbott has announced that Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) has received a $17.3 million grant from the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund.
This funding will support the expansion of SpaceX’s semiconductor research and development (R&D) and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop. The expansion is expected to create over 400 jobs and generate more than $280 million in capital investment.
“Texas connects the nation and the world with the most advanced technologies manufactured right here in our great state,” Governor Abbott stated. “I congratulate SpaceX on their more than $280 million investment in this Texas-sized expansion of their semiconductor R&D and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop, which will be the largest of its kind in North America.
Working together with innovative industry leaders like SpaceX, Texas will continue to rank No. 1 for semiconductor research and high-tech manufacturing and secure critical domestic supply chains as we build a stronger, more prosperous Texas than ever before.”
The Bastrop expansion will add one million square feet to the current facility over the next three years. The expanded space will be used to produce Starlink kits and their component parts, including advanced packaged silicon products.
Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite broadband service, provides high-speed, low-latency internet to over five million people in more than 120 countries and territories.
The expansion will include the construction of a printed circuit board (PCB) facility, a semiconductor failure analysis lab, and a facility for advanced panel level packaging. Once completed, the Bastrop site will be the largest PCB and PLP facility in North America.
“SpaceX is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into our Bastrop facility. This grant will help continue to expand Bastrop’s manufacturing for Starlink to help connect even more people across the state and around the world with high-speed, low-latency internet,” said SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell.
The expansion of SpaceX’s operations in Texas is a direct result of the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund and Governor Abbott’s efforts to make the state a leader in semiconductor manufacturing and technological innovation.