SpaceX Offers 20% Pay Premium for Memphis Supercomputer Push

SpaceX is offering employees a 20% pay increase if they volunteer for a six-week assignment tied to its supercomputer buildout, according to an email seen by Business Insider. The work would place employees on-site in Memphis, Tennessee, or Southaven, Mississippi, where SpaceX is expanding its Colossus 1 and 2 data centers. Volunteers must be in good performance standing, with more than one year of tenure preferred.

The email said volunteers do not need to already be managers, though construction experience is a plus. Employees may also be eligible for bonuses tied to program success, and SpaceX will cover travel expenses and logistics.

The internal email described the staffing move as a “surge,” a tactic Business Insider says SpaceX uses to redirect employees and resources toward mission-critical projects. The message said SpaceX needs leaders — “current and emerging” — to guide teams and remove blockers as more supercomputers come online.

Business Insider reported that SpaceX has offered a 20% premium for Memphis assignments since at least August. Another email said the program was intended to end on December 31, 2026, but could be extended.

The Tennessee and Mississippi supercomputers were originally built by xAI before the startup was folded into SpaceX in February, according to Business Insider. They have become central to SpaceX’s compute business as demand for AI infrastructure rises.

In SpaceX’s earnings, the company said AI revenue that includes leasing compute to other companies — including Anthropic and Google — rose to more than $7 billion, nearly half of quarterly revenue. Elon Musk said on an analyst call that SpaceX was being “hounded relentlessly” by companies looking to rent its compute.

SpaceX has moved executives as well as rank-and-file employees toward the data-center expansion. Business Insider previously reported that a former Starship executive was placed in charge of building out compute capacity in Memphis.

Musk told investors he was spending much of his time in Memphis, often four days a week, while pushing toward a target of bringing an extra 10 gigawatts of compute online by the end of 2027. He previously said he was living in an Airstream trailer on the site.