SpaceX confirms Terefab project is a done deal as reps meet face-to-face with Grimes County residents
ANDERSON, Texas (KBTX) – For months, Grimes County residents have had questions about the proposed Terafab chip manufacturing facility. And for the first time, representatives from SpaceX and Terafab showed up to answer them directly, so here is everything we learned.
On Wednesday morning, residents packed into the Grimes County Commissioners Court room, ready for what many called one of the most consequential meetings in the county’s recent history.
On the agenda, a formal question-and-answer session with SpaceX and Terafab representatives. For many in that room, it was the first time they had ever been in the same room as the people behind the project that has completely changed the conversation in Grimes County.
The JETI agreements are official
The biggest headline out of Wednesday’s meeting, the JETI agreements are done. Both local school districts, SpaceX, and the Governor have officially signed the agreements, and they are now marked as active. Terafab representative Riley Trennell said now is go time.
RELATED: Gov. Abbott signals approval of SpaceX’s Terafab JETI tax agreements
“Now with the JETI done, we are going to be moving nearly immediately to get going on the project. We need to get our civil work started. We need to start to get foundations in place. And we’re going to get cracking,” Trennell said.
He added that renderings of the facility could be released within days, and that construction could begin within months.
For phase one alone, SpaceX is committing to 3,000 permanent jobs at the Terafab facility. Trennell was clear that those jobs will not just be for engineers.
“These jobs span the full range of jobs that exist,” he said. “There will be everything from opportunities in food service, in janitorial services, in security, all the way up to the most advanced semiconductor fabrication engineering.”
In addition to permanent positions, Trennell said thousands of construction jobs are expected during the build-out, and encouraged young people to consider the trades, specifically calling out the millwright trade as one that will be in high demand.
Why Grimes County?
Trennell addressed head-on why SpaceX chose the Gibbons Creek Reservoir site, acknowledging there is no perfect location for a project of this size, but calling this the best option they found.
“There is no perfect place in the U.S. to build it. But in my opinion, and in the opinion of SpaceX, this is the best solution for this project that we have found,” he said.
He cited the region’s position inside the Texas Triangle, with 7.2 million people living less than an hour away and 15.9 million within three hours, as a key factor. The proximity to Houston’s labor force, access to fuel for power generation, and the water storage capacity of the Gibbons Creek Reservoir were also cited as major reasons for the selection.
The bigger picture
SpaceX Environment, Health, Safety and Medical Lead Jordan Buss framed Terafab as far more than an economic development project, calling it a matter of national security.
“Terafab is not just a business that’s coming into the community. This is something that is strategically vital for the United States and for Western civilization,” Buss said.
Buss pointed to America’s growing reliance on foreign-made chips, drawing a direct comparison to the chip shortages experienced during COVID, as the driving force behind the project. He said Terafab represents an opportunity to reverse decades of declining U.S. manufacturing and rebuild a domestic semiconductor supply chain.
Both Buss and Trennell both addressed one of the biggest concerns among Grimes County residents: the environmental impact of a facility of this size.
SpaceX committed that Terafab will not raise electric bills for ratepayers, will not deplete local water resources, and will not dry up the Navasota River.
Trennell explained that SpaceX selected the Gibbons Creek site specifically for its ability to store rainwater, not for groundwater access.
“We definitely did not pick this location for groundwater. We picked this location for its ability to store water,” he said.
He also confirmed that SpaceX will build its own natural gas-fired power plants to power the facility, and said those plants will be the cleanest per megawatt natural gas facilities in the country. SpaceX will not draw from the ERCOT grid in a way that increases costs for other ratepayers.
On water, Trennell said the facility uses closed-loop systems that reuse and recycle water, and that any waste generated will be handled in full compliance with the law and sent to certified facilities.
SpaceX confirms ownership of Navasota River pumping station
KBTX can confirm Wednesday that SpaceX owns the Navasota River pumping station. KBTX had previously reported that a SpaceX-adjacent company — Wit Tech LLC — had purchased that land while tax abatement negotiations were underway. Wednesday, SpaceX representatives confirmed the pumping station belongs to SpaceX, and they plan to use it to divert stormwater into the Gibbons Creek Reservoir.
RELATED: A closer look at the Navasota River pump station now owned by an Elon Musk-connected company
Trennell was clear that the permit does not allow SpaceX to stop the flow of the Navasota River.
“We can’t dry up the Navasota River. The amount of water we can take on an annual basis is limited,” he said.
Setting the record straight
SpaceX attorney Buck Brannon addressed what he called a misconception about the county’s tax agreement, specifically the widely reported claim that SpaceX received a 100 percent tax abatement.
Brannon said the actual abatement is approximately 78 percent, and that the agreement fixes SpaceX’s payment to Grimes County at $20 million per year for 35 years, totaling $710 million. He noted that figure is more than Tesla’s $14 million payment to Travis County in 2025, the largest county tax payment he could find in the state.
At peak facility value, SpaceX is projected to pay more than $100 million per year when school district taxes are included. After the 35-year agreement expires, full taxes kick in, projected at $60 million per year to the county alone.
County Judge Joe Fauth pushed back on the 100 percent abatement narrative directly, noting that the fixed payment structure actually protects the county from years of tax protests that other large companies routinely file.
How the community feels
Iola resident Harry Trumbel said the Q&A with SpaceX helped give him peace of mind, but should have happened much sooner.
“It should have happened a long time ago, right when they first brought it up to move here,” Trumbel said. “They should have had some kind of meetings with the public and put all this stuff to rest before it ever got started.”
But even with lingering skepticism, Trumbell said he is cautiously ready to see what comes next.
“Get it on. Do it. I want to see if they’re going to live up to what they told us,” he added.
Grimes County’s AI chatbot policy
Also out of Wednesday’s meeting, Grimes County commissioners approved an addendum to the county’s existing AI policy, giving employees an official list of ten approved chatbots they can use for work. The list includes ChatGPT, Claude and Grok, the AI chatbot developed by SpaceX.
IT Director Gregg Cannon was clear that SpaceX’s presence in the region had nothing to do with Grok making the list.
“There was no decision made because SpaceX was coming. We just looked at the most prolific chatbots that were out there and tried to make sure that we gave our employees a good range of chatbots to do the different services,” Cannon said.
Employees are reminded they cannot enter confidential county information into any of those tools.
Copyright 2026 KBTX. All rights reserved.
