SpaceX is building a solar cell factory in Bastrop, Texas, with a planned annual production capacity of 10 gigawatts. The goal: manufacture enough solar cells to power artificial intelligence data centers floating in space.
To put 10 GW in context, that’s roughly ten times the output of a large nuclear power plant running at full tilt. The facility would be split across two production floors, each handling 5 GW of capacity, according to permit documents reported by Bloomberg.
What SpaceX is actually building
The Bastrop location isn’t new territory for SpaceX. The company already operates roughly 550,000 square feet of manufacturing space there dedicated to Starlink satellite production. Adding a massive solar cell factory next door creates an obvious supply chain advantage: build the solar cells in one building, integrate them into satellites in another.
In space, solar panels can capture sunlight almost continuously, without clouds, nighttime, or atmospheric interference eating into efficiency. For power-hungry AI workloads, that distinction matters enormously, as training and running large language models requires sustained, high-density power delivery.
