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Space travel, 'everywhere internet,' brain implants—Elon Musk quietly making Austin a global tech center

The Tesla Gigafactory in Southeast Travis County is expected to begin production this year. (Tesla Owners Austin/Twitter)
Multi-hyphenated billionaire Elon Musk recently revealed that he lives in a $50,000 prefab tiny home in Boca Chica, Texas, that he rents from his aerospace company SpaceX. Although he says that is his primary home, many of his business ventures are quickly growing in Austin.
Here's an update on five of his startups, from Tesla to his Austin-based philanthropic foundation.
Tesla
Happy #4thofJuly weekend, enjoy 3 drone shots from Tesla GigaTexas, taken just now!
— Tesla Owners Austin (@AustinTeslaClub) July 3, 2021
Factory for the most American made car.
Thanks @Tesla & @elonmusk for choosing #Texas as your home! TSLA
📷 @peterdog15#IndependenceDaypic.twitter.com/IOJN6BvDY2
The $1.1 billion Tesla Gigafactory in Southeast Travis County is growing each day as crews work to make good on Musk's promises: initial limited production by the end of the year and as many as 10,000 jobs. The construction site has attracted acolytes such as the Tesla Owners Austin and local elected officials as well as speculation.
🚘 Toured the Tesla site w/ some of my team on Friday! It's incredible to see how quickly it's coming together. I look forward to checking it out once it's complete. #GigaTexaspic.twitter.com/y1dEqwJFvu
— Vanessa Fuentes 💃🏽 (@VanessaForATX) June 30, 2021
The factory will produce the Model 3 sedan, Model Y SUV and Cybertruck, at least one of which has made its Central Texas debut. Tesla sold 201,250 cars in the second quarter, more than twice as many as it did in the same period last year, despite a global chip shortage, according to a July 2 press release.
Cybertruck at Giga Texas pic.twitter.com/c1RuektPnN
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 16, 2021
In addition to construction, the electric carmaker is in the midst of a local hiring spree, with more than 250 Austin-based jobs posted on its website.
Although the factory is still under construction, questions are already swirling about future projects. The entity Tesla used to buy the site owns more than 2,500 acres along SH 130, according to a May 13 report by the Austin Business Journal. Experts suggested it could be used for Musk's other ventures or serve as the future home of Tesla HQ, following its founder from California to Texas.
SpaceX
Musk's aerospace company SpaceX is not currently hiring in the Austin area but does have scores of open positions in Brownsville and McGregor, where it has a launch facility and rocket development facility, respectively.
However, SpaceX will break ground on a new "state-of-the-art manufacturing facility" in Austin related to its broadband Starlink project, according to job listings posted in March.
Starlink is a forthcoming high-speed, low-latency broadband internet system enabled by a "constellation of low Earth satellites" and suited for populations with little or no connectivity, such as rural areas, according to its website.
It is unclear where the Austin facility will be located but it will manufacture consumer products such as Starlink dishes, Wi-Fi routers and mounting hardware, according to the postings, which are no longer listed.
The Boring Company
Tunnel Rave pic.twitter.com/d3JKOIAsy7
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) December 4, 2020
Musk's tunneling startup—and flamethrower manufacturer—is hiring for 18 Austin-based positions, according to its website. One job posting mentions a research and development site in Bastrop, marking the company's first admission that it has a location in the Austin area, as reported by the Austin Business Journal last month.
The Boring Company built a 1.14-mile research and development tunnel in Hawthorne, California, in 2018. It cost around $10 million to construct and originated at a SpaceX property, according to the website.
Neuralink
Musk's brain implant startup is also hiring in Austin. Its website lists seven positions, including a neurosurgical robot operator and veterinarian. The company has tested its product on monkeys and pigs, prompting pushback from PETA, and Musk tweeted in February that initial human trials could begin as soon as later this year.
Neuralink is working super hard to ensure implant safety & is in close communication with the FDA. If things go well, we might be able to do initial human trials later this year.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2021
Although the company is headquartered in San Francisco, the postings have fueled speculation that it will expand to a new Austin location for months.
Musk Foundation
The Musk Foundation website is extremely bare. (Musk Foundation)
Musk's philanthropic venture relocated to Austin last summer, ahead of its founder's closely watched move from California to Texas. Founded in 2001, the foundation supports renewable energy, human space exploration, pediatric research, science and engineering education, and the development of artificial intelligence.
The Musk Foundation recently donated $1 million toward the revitalization of downtown Brownsville and new housing opportunities in the area, where SpaceX has a launch facility and is actively hiring.
Please consider moving to Starbase or greater Brownsville/South Padre area in Texas & encourage friends to do so!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 30, 2021
SpaceX’s hiring needs for engineers, technicians, builders & essential support personnel of all kinds are growing rapidly.
"There's going to be a need for professionals to be able to have a home near downtown," Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation Executive Director Josh Mejia told Valley Central last month. "We understand that there have been folks who've lived here for many generations, so we'd also like to support that as well."
Musk announced in March that he would donate $20 million to school districts in Cameron County, where he is attempting to incorporate the new city of Starbase, and $10 million to the city of Brownsville. The donations have prompted some to wonder: Could Austin be next?
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Popular
(Paxton Smith/Instagram)
Paxton Smith’s 2021 valedictory speech at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas wasn’t the same speech she had previously shared with school administrators. She dropped the approved speech and made a case for women’s reproductive rights after lawmakers passed the Texas "Heartbeat Bill.”
Her advocacy made news on NPR, YouTubeTV and in The Guardian. Just over a year later, the “war on (women’s) rights” she forewarned has come to a head as the U.S. Supreme Court voted Friday morning to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection for abortion access.
“It is up to the people to show up and show the courts and the politicians that we won’t sit back and let this happen,” Smith told Austonia Friday morning. “We will show up, we will fight back. Before, we were scared of them, now they should be scared of us.”
Now a University of Texas sophomore and abortion rights activist, 19-year-old Smith said she wanted to give the same speech in the “the most public way possible” to reach “as many people as possible who don't agree that I deserve this right.”
However, she says the response was “actually overwhelmingly positive” and supportive of her cause. According to a recent UT poll, 78% of Texas voters support abortion access in most cases.
The speech opened up further opportunities for activism: she advocated for reproductive rights at the International Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, interviewed with Variety magazine and spoke to tens of thousands at Austin’s Bans Off Our Bodies protest at the Texas Capitol in May.
Smith also serves on the board of directors for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a national nonprofit organization that helps fund abortions or medication abortion—like Plan C pills—in all 50 states. Most recently, Smith has been attending protests in Washington, D.C. leading up to the ruling.
“This is land of the free. This is where you get to choose how you live your life,” Smith said. “Overturning Roe v. Wade violates everything that we have come to believe about what it means to live in this country. I think a lot of people aren't willing to accept that this is a human right that is most likely just going to be gone for over half of the country within the next couple of weeks.”
Bracing for the next steps, Smith gave some tips for supporters:
- Find a protest to attend.
- “I would say invite somebody to go to those protests with you, invite a couple of friends, invite people into the movement,” Smith said.
- Talk about the issue on social media—use the platform you have.
- “Have these kinds of conversations where people can just talk about their fears and then find ways to go and advocate for yourself,” Smith said.
- Volunteer at a nonprofit near you.
“I feel like a lot of the reason things have gotten as bad as they have within the abortion rights world is that people are not making a scene, not protesting, not putting the effort into ensuring that the government doesn't take away this right,” Smith said. “I want to emphasize that if you're not doing anything, don't expect the best scenario, expect the worst because that's the direction that we're going in.”
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(Council Member Chito Vela/Twitter)
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, Friday morning. Moments later, Austin City Council set a special meeting for next month to pass a resolution aimed at decriminalizing abortion.
The GRACE Act, which stands for guarding the right to abortion care for everyone, is a twofold plan submitted by council member Jose “Chito” Vela. It recommends that city funds shouldn’t be used to surveil, catalog, report or investigate abortions. It also recommends that police make investigating abortion their lowest priority.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who co-sponsored the resolution along with council members Paige Ellis, Kathie Tovo and Mayor Steve Adler, said the importance of the GRACE Act cannot be overstated.
“By introducing this resolution during a special session, City Council is doubling down on fighting back for reproductive health,” Fuentes said. “Items like the GRACE Act will promote essential healthcare while enabling individuals to exercise their bodily freedom.”
The act takes an approach similar to when former council member Greg Casar moved to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ultimately, state law doesn't allow city officials to order police chiefs to adopt specific enforcement policies so the resolution would be a request to Police Chief Joe Chacon. In May, Politico reported that Vela is having "ongoing conversations" with Chacon about the proposal.
Austonia contacted Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment on the GRACE Act but did not hear back by time of publication. On Friday, Paxton celebrated the overturning of Roe and announced an annual office holiday on June 24 in recognition of the high court's decision.
In a press release, Vela said the Texas state government has a history of overturning municipal protections of human rights. Thirty days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Texas will ban all abortions, with exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
Still, Vela expressed hope for the GRACE Act’s longevity. Council’s special meeting on it is set for the week of July 18.
“We know this resolution is legally sound, and Austin is not alone in this fight,” Vela said. “We are working with several other cities who are equally horrified by the prospect of an abortion ban and want to do everything they can to protect their residents.”
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