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Elon Musk confirms SpaceX will begin in-house production of natural gas turbine parts to accelerate AI infrastructure growth.

Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX will begin manufacturing its own natural gas turbine blades and vanes to alleviate supply chain bottlenecks for AI infrastructure. By moving production in-house, the company aims to accelerate the deployment of gas turbines by up to 18 months, providing a significant advantage over competitors who currently rely on a small oligopoly of specialized suppliers. While SpaceX and Tesla are rapidly expanding solar production capacity, Musk noted that natural gas remains a necessary supplement to bootstrap solar power for several years. This move addresses a primary constraint in the AI industry, where data center electricity demand is projected to double by 2030. The decision has also drawn attention to the manufacturing complexity of turbine blades, which must be cast as single, unbroken crystals in a vacuum furnace. By securing this capability, SpaceX gains a manufacturing edge. However, the shift toward gas turbines has also sparked some local concerns regarding pollution and noise, with some communities already reporting health-related impacts from the emissions of the turbines used to power data centers.

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