In more than 40 years, we have never seen a Southern market hotter than Austin has been the last several years. This fall, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that Austin added more than 242,000 new jobs from 2019 to 2025, the highest growth rate of any metro at 21.8 percent. Even more, during those years Austin added 337,500 new residents. In terms of total jobs gained, Dallas/Fort Worth holds the crown from 2019 to 2025 with 434,000 new jobs followed in second by Houston with 246,000 new jobs.
Here are some of the projects announced in the Austin area recently:
SpaceX announces large expansion in Bastrop County, Texas
Equipment installation is well underway at SpaceX’s $280 million expansion near Austin in Bastrop County. The deal is part of the company’s broader A.I. and semiconductor ambitions. The expansion will add about 1 million square feet of space on the site, enabling in-house production of packaged silicon and Starlink hardware. The new facility will house about 400 workers.
Blue Origin eyes Austin area site for big deal
The city of Hutto, Texas, an Austin suburb, has approved incentives for a proposed $650 million facility for the rocket and space firm. According to therealdeal.com, the project is expected to create over 2,000 jobs with an average salary of $88,000.
The project is expected to be valued at about $1 billion with as many as 2,200 jobs created. The area is viewed as a “space corridor” with Firefly Aerospace, National Aero Stands and Valken Industries in operation there. Blue Origin also operates Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas, 120 miles from El Paso. Since 2015, that site has launched 36 flights of the New Shepard rocket.
It should be noted that one of Blue Origin’s largest rockets blew up in a test at Cape Canaveral on Florida’s Space Coast in May, obviously forcing the company into somewhat of a retreat for the time being.
Amazon plans to make warehouse robots in Hot Austin
The number of projects coming out of Austin are too many to count so far this year. Jeff Bezo’s company is establishing an advanced robot manufacturing line in East Austin. The robotics systems called Hercules bots will work with Amazon employees to handle repetitive tasks and heavy lifting. The deal will create 300 to 500 jobs Amazon officials said.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX campus in Bastrop County could be 11 million square feet
A new SpaceX campus that will make lots of things is being planned for the East Austin market of Bastrop. Called “Gigasat,” plans are for 11 million square feet, or 1 million more square feet than Musk’s Tesla factory near the Austin airport.
The plant is expected to produce solar products, like ingots and wafers, the space will be used to build data centers that expected to be sent to space by the end of 2027. So, satellites will be built there, too.
Apollo Global Management appears to have chosen Austin over Palm Beach, Miami and Nashville
While nothing is signed as of the end of June, financial services giant Apollo appears to have chosen Austin, Texas for its second headquarters. If the New York-based company does choose Austin, it will have its pick of class A office space downtown as the area has a 24.5 percent office space vacancy rate. The second headquarters is expected to house new hires for the company, which current has about 4,000 employees.
A.I. automotive startup to move HQ to Austin
Partly, a company that builds artificial intelligence for the auto repair industry is relocating its headquarters to Austin from New Zealand. The company, which has clients like Toyota and Hyundai, is expected to hire hundreds of workers.
New data center slated for Bastrop County, Texas
Virginia-based EdgeConneX is locating a $440 million, two-story data center in the Cedar Creek area. It is the first of four buildings that will ultimately be a $1.4 billion investment. The site is on about 130 acres and will create hundreds of construction jobs.
Musk expanding near Austin with Optimus 4 robot project
Elon Musk is expanding his Gigi Texas plant where Tesla EVs are made to produce up to 10 million humanoid robots a year in the Austin area. His factory in Freemont, Calif. Is targeting 1 million robot units per year in 2026 and the Texas factory is slated for 10 million a year in 2027.
The robots are being designed to redefine manufacturing, labor and even the entire U.S. economy. They are not simply factory drones. Musk envisions a general-purpose robot that learns like a human.
Good things just keep happening in Austin
In Q1 2026, the Austin region set its strongest venture capital quarter in history, with at least $4.2 billion in funding according to Opportunity Austin. In all of 2025, Austin-area companies raised $7.8 billion. Much of the new funding went to defense startups, such as autonomous boat company Saronic.
Another chips-for-data-centers-and-A.I. deal pops up in the Austin area
Q.ANT, a German semiconductor firm working to develop energy-efficient chips for data centers and A.I., is opening its U.S. headquarters in Austin. The area, including Williamson County, Bastrop and other places all over the Austin region, are seeing such similar deals pop by the dozens lately.
The startup is somewhat of a pioneer in commercial photonic computing. The whole idea behind Q.ANT is to reduce energy consumption in data centers. Founded in Stuttgart in 2018, it plans to enter the U.S. market to localize chip manufacturing. Many sources have estimated that U.S. companies will invest $690 billion into A.I. this year.
