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Elon Musk is increasingly relying on natural gas to meet the enormous power demands of SpaceX’s expanding artificial-intelligence operations, The Wall Street Journal reports.
This marks a significant shift from his earlier emphasis on technologies designed to replace fossil fuels, including electric vehicles, batteries and solar energy.
SpaceX is building massive AI data centers and a $16.8 billion chip-manufacturing facility in Texas, and because connecting projects of this scale to the electrical grid can take years, the company is installing its own natural-gas turbines and power plants.
Its data-center power capacity could increase from roughly 2 gigawatts to around 10 gigawatts, or potentially 15 gigawatts, by the end of 2027, which would make it the largest data-center operator in the United States. Musk has embraced a “Bring Your Own Power” strategy because natural gas can provide 24/7 electricity much faster than traditional grid connections.
SpaceX and xAI have used gas turbines to expand data centers in Tennessee and Mississippi, while SpaceX has also secured major cloud-computing agreements with Google and Anthropic. Musk has acquired a gas and diesel-turbine manufacturer as well.
Although this approach contrasts with the executive’s earlier environmental goals, natural gas allows SpaceX to expand its computing infrastructure quickly while the company pursues longer-term plans for solar-powered data centers in space.
Other major companies, including Microsoft and Meta, are also pursuing on-site natural-gas power as AI increases demand for electricity faster than traditional power grids can provide it.
