SpaceX confirms 6 GW AI data center plan for rural Cochise, Arizona

TL;DR: SpaceX has confirmed it is behind a proposed AI data center campus near Cochise, Arizona. The county application, filed by an affiliate called Tombstone Resources LLC, describes about 747 acres, up to nine computing buildings and roughly 6 gigawatts of power at full build-out. A county zoning hearing is set for December 9.

What was proposed

The plan surfaced at a packed community meeting at Cochise Elementary School on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. KVOA reported that SpaceX officially said it is the company behind the project, and the Herald Review reported that SpaceX representative Riley Trettel identified SpaceX as the owner and proposed long-term operator. KVOA put the crowd at roughly 275 people.

The paperwork itself comes from Tombstone Resources LLC, which DCD describes as a SpaceXAI affiliate. According to the special use application filed with Cochise County, the campus would:

• Sit on about 747 acres of rural land along U.S. Highway 191, next to the Apache Generating Station.
• Be built in four phases, up to nine single-story computing buildings of about 493,000 square feet each.
• Draw about 6 gigawatts (6,000 megawatts) at full build-out, delivered from the grid through local utilities SSVEC and AEPCO.
• Be dry-cooled with no cooling towers, using about 7 to 10 acre-feet of water a year, which the application compares to 20 to 30 Arizona homes.
• Include roughly $3.6 billion of applicant-funded transmission and substation work, and a permanent workforce on the order of 1,000 at full build-out.

DCD reports the company hopes to start construction in March 2027 if zoning is approved, and that when compute comes online depends on the grid upgrades.

The local reaction

Coverage from KVOA, KOLD and the Herald Review describes a tense meeting with mixed reactions. Some residents welcomed jobs and investment, while others raised questions about groundwater, electricity costs, wildlife, noise and the area's rural character.

What happens next

Cochise County's Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the special use request on December 9 at 4 p.m., KVOA reports. The commission has the final say unless its decision is appealed to the Board of Supervisors. No decision has been made yet.

This is a reported story. Details come from local news coverage and the county application, not from an official SpaceX or xAI announcement.