Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday announced that the state has offered Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) a $17.3 million Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund grant toward a more than $280 million expansion of the company's research/development and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop, Texas.

The fund is included in 2023's Texas CHIPS Act and is meant to be a performance-based incentive that promotes semiconductor research, design and manufacturing within the state.

The grant to SpaceX is the fifth under the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund program, according to Gov. Abbott's office.

"Texas connects the nation and the world with the most advanced technologies manufactured right here in our great state," Gov. Abbott said. "I congratulate SpaceX on their more than $280 million investment in this Texas-sized expansion of their semiconductor R&D and advanced packaging facility in Bastrop, which will be the largest of its kind in North America.

"Working together with innovative industry leaders like SpaceX,Texas will continue to rank No. 1 for semiconductor research and high-tech manufacturing and secure critical domestic supply chains as we build a stronger, more prosperous Texas than ever before," he said.

As part of the company's three-year expansion, SpaceX will grow its existing Bastrop facility by one million square feet, Abbott's office said, and produce Starlink kits and component parts there, including printed circuit boards (PCBs), a semiconductor failure analysis lab and advanced packaging space for panel level packaging (PLP). Once operational, the plant will be the largest PCB and PLP facility in North America.

Starlink uses a system of low earth orbit satellites to provide high-speed, low-latency internet service, even in remote areas. Currently, the service has more than five million customers in 120 countries and territories.

"Incredible innovation and high-tech manufacturing is happening in Texas as a direct result of Governor Abbott's leadership and the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund initiative," said SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell.

"We love Texas," Shotwell said. "SpaceX is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into our Bastrop facility. This grant will help continue to expand Bastrop's manufacturing for Starlink to help connect even more people across the state and around the world with high-speed, low-latency internet."

Other Musk operations, either all or in part, call Texas home, including tunneling enterprise The Boring Company; social media company X; Tesla's electric vehicle manufacturing gigafactory; and launch and tracking facilities for SpaceX.

Space X with its billion dollar owner and billion dollar valuation that can raise a billion dollars in a capital raise with ease STILL takes public money to expand operations. Socialism is so strong in the USA in this so called red state of Texas. Sure they hide this technology subsidy as moving Texas forward and be cutting edge meanwhile public infrastructure still crumbles.