SpaceX is planning a large-scale manufacturing expansion in Bastrop County, with Elon Musk referring to the proposed 11 million-square-foot plant as Gigasat. According to reporting cited from the Austin Business Journal, the new solar production facility is expected to surpass the size of Musk’s Tesla gigafactory, which totals about 10 million square feet. The Gigasat concept is part of a broader industrial footprint Musk’s companies are assembling roughly 30 miles east of downtown Austin, near the city of Bastrop.
Musk indicated that his affiliated companies now control or have under contract about 1,000 acres in this corridor. During a 30-minute presentation on X, he suggested that the site could ultimately support a factory of up to 100 million square feet, which he said would make it the largest building in the world. While that larger build-out remains conceptual, it underscores the scale of industrial development being considered in Bastrop County.
SpaceX is already executing on a significant expansion program at the site. The company is adding 1.5 million square feet of Starlink production and warehouse space on the east side of FM 1209. In addition, a 1.5 million-square-foot solar cell factory is currently under construction, further anchoring the location as a major production hub for the company’s satellite and energy-related operations. These facilities build on an existing presence that has quickly grown in both footprint and employment.
Employment levels at the Bastrop County operation have scaled rapidly, with SpaceX reporting nearly 1,600 employees currently on site. Company expectations indicate that headcount could soon exceed 2,000 as additional facilities are built out and production ramps up. The growing labor base reflects the intensity of manufacturing activity tied to the Starlink satellite constellation and the associated technology and components required to support it.
Operationally, SpaceX continues to expand its Starlink network. As of March 31 of this year, the company reported approximately 9,600 Starlink broadband and mobile satellites in orbit. This satellite count highlights the industrial capacity required for ongoing production, assembly and logistics, and provides context for the scale of the planned Gigasat facility and related manufacturing assets in Bastrop County.
On the corporate side, SpaceX recently filed for an initial public offering. Public reports characterize the planned IPO as one that could rank as the largest in history. While specific offering details were not disclosed in the source material, the filing underscores the company’s capital needs to support its satellite network, manufacturing build-out and broader growth strategy. For the Bastrop County industrial cluster, the combination of a major proposed plant, ongoing construction and a large-scale capital markets event positions the area as an important node in the company’s global production network.
