Elon Musk-led SpaceX is offering employees a 20% pay premium to relocate temporarily to Memphis, Tennessee, or Southaven, Mississippi, for six weeks as the company accelerates the expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) data centres, according to a report by Business Insider.
The incentive is aimed at staffing the expansion of the company’s Colossus supercomputer infrastructure, as demand for computing capacity grows. SpaceX’s AI business, which includes renting computing resources to companies such as Anthropic and Google, has emerged as a significant contributor to its revenue.
On Tuesday, the company reported that its AI business generated $7.56 billion in revenue in the third quarter, accounting for more than half of its total revenue of $14.6 billion.
Why is SpaceX offering employees a 20% pay rise?
SpaceX is seeking employees willing to take up six-week assignments to help bring more supercomputers online at its facilities in Memphis and Southaven. The company is offering additional compensation to attract employees to these temporary roles.
An email sent to employees in early October and reviewed by Business Insider said the company needed people who could lead teams and address operational hurdles as the infrastructure expands.
“We now need leaders — current and emerging — to guide teams and remove blockers as we bring more supercomputers online,” the email said.
Applicants do not need to hold managerial positions, and construction experience would be an advantage. However, the email stressed that “drive matters most”.
Employees must be in good performance standing, with more than a year of service preferred. Those selected will receive a 20% premium on their base salary or hourly rate for the duration of the assignment, along with eligibility for “bonuses tied to program success”.
SpaceX will also cover travel expenses and logistical arrangements associated with the temporary postings. The company did not respond to a request for comment, according to Business Insider.
SpaceX’s Colossus data centres are central to its AI expansion
The temporary assignments, internally referred to as a “surge”, are intended to accelerate work on the Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centres in Memphis and Southaven.
A separate email reviewed by Business Insider indicated that SpaceX had been offering a 20% salary premium for Memphis assignments since at least August. The initiative was initially scheduled to run until 31 December 2026, although the company could extend it.
The incentive is not the first time SpaceX has offered additional pay to employees willing to relocate for major projects. CNBC reported in 2022 that the company had offered salary increases ranging from 10% to 25% to workers willing to move temporarily to Texas to support its Starship rocket programme.
The Colossus facilities were initially developed by AI start-up xAI, which was folded into SpaceX in February. They have since become a key part of the company’s computing operations, including the provision of processing capacity to external customers.
How AI computing demand is contributing to SpaceX’s revenue
SpaceX’s AI business generated $7.56 billion in third-quarter revenue, accounting for more than half of the company’s total revenue of $14.6 billion, according to figures reported on Tuesday.
The business includes revenue from renting computing capacity to companies such as Anthropic and Google, as well as from AI products and services including Grok and X.
During an analyst call, Musk said SpaceX was being “hounded relentlessly” by companies seeking access to its computing resources. He added that demand was strong enough for the company to have rented out its available capacity several times over.
The company has also reassigned senior executives to support the expansion. A former Starship executive was put in charge of building computing capacity in Memphis.
Elon Musk targets 10 gigawatts of additional computing capacity
Musk is personally overseeing the expansion as SpaceX works towards adding 10 gigawatts of capacity. He told investors that he had been devoting a significant portion of his time to the Memphis operations.
“I've been spending, personally, a lot of my time in Memphis, often four days a week,” he said.
The six-week assignments and additional pay are intended to help SpaceX deploy more supercomputing infrastructure as the company expands its AI computing business.