Elon Musk's SpaceX is suing both the county that will be home to its Terafab and Attorney General Ken Paxton in an effort to keep information about the planned semiconductor plant secret. Paxton previously ruled it must be released.
The Starbase company is attempting to stop Grimes County from answering requests for public records with details on tax breaks it won for the $16.8 billion project and other information. The suit filed in state District Court in Travis County also asks a judge to permanently block Grimes County and the attorney general's office from releasing the records.
The lawsuit stems from requests filed by Marie Egyed on behalf of Grimes County Citizens for Responsible Development and resident Vanessa Burzynski for documents related to development of the project and the tax abatements and other public money it is receiving, and communications between the company and Grimes County officials about the deals.
In July, Paxton's office ruled that most of the requested records should be released as required under the Texas Public Information Act. It said SpaceX could withhold some information concerning legal matters.
SpaceX argues that releasing the information under Paxton's order would reveal its negotiation tactics, financial and personnel information.
"SpaceX competes in many markets, against other companies, and among jurisdictions courting those companies, including for sites and finite economic-development funding," its suit said. "The terms on which SpaceX pursues, negotiates, and structures such deals are competitively sensitive: their disclosure would reveal SpaceX's costs, plans, and negotiating strategy to competitors and to every other jurisdiction with which SpaceX negotiates."
Before the decision to build Terafab on the Grimes County site near College Station was finalized, the company said it was also exploring sites in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. Each market was assessed on total tax burden, availability of infrastructure, workforce availability and training incentives, and speed-to-market and permitting timelines. Grimes County coaxed SpaceX into choosing Texas by agreeing to assess no taxes in a deal that residents said came with little public comment or information.
SpaceX also suggested releasing the records would pose a security risk, noting it is a defense contractor that has been subject to hacking and phishing attempts.
"Disclosure of the technical details of the facility would identify particular vulnerabilities of the facility to an act of terrorism, particularly in the current climate of heightened international conflict and hostile targeting of critical technology assets," its suit said.
Grimes County Judge Joe Fauth and Paxton didn't respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit connected to Terafab.
The project is a joint venture between SpaceX and Tesla Inc. to build chips for self-driving vehicles, humanoid robots and space-based data centers. Intel Corp. is a partner in the project, which Musk has said will be the world's largest chip plant.
The tech mogul's companies have a history of secrecy around their plans, negotiations and developments. This month's launch of Tesla's new Cybercab vehicle in Austin, for example, was conducted for invited guests only at a location even they were not given until the eve of the event. Tesla has previously cited trade secrecy as a reason to withhold information. In response to a records request made by the Austin American-Statesman for projects filed with the city of Austin, Tesla objected to the Paxton's office, saying the information is protected.
"With knowledge of Tesla's commercial information in the requested documents, competitors would be in an advantageous position to use it for their own pecuniary gain and undercut Tesla in future projects," it told Paxton's office.
Musk's companies also routinely require non-disclosure agreements from public officials with whom they are entering discussions, and from customers, contractors and others.
The tech mogul has maintained a friendly public relationship with Texas Republican elected officials, including Paxton. Recent filings disclosed that Musk's America PAC has spent more than $1.6 million to boost Paxton in his Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. Paxton defeated the incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary. It's among millions he's spent on races in Texas and across the U.S. this election cycle.
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This article originally published at Elon Musk's SpaceX sued this rural Texas county and Ken Paxton to keep its secrets.