SpaceX Linked to 6 GW Cochise County, Arizona Data Center Plan

SpaceX presented a 747-acre data center campus with an estimated electrical demand of up to 6 GW to residents of Cochise County, Arizona, on Nov. 4, although the county application was filed by Tombstone Resources L.L.C.

Cochise County's Development Services department received special use application SU26-22 on Oct. 30, according to the Arizona Daily Star. The county's project page, last updated Nov. 6, describes a supercomputer and AI data center campus with a battery energy storage system (BESS) on about 747 acres along U.S. Highway 191 near Cochise, up to nine computing buildings in four phases, and 6 GW of demand at full build-out. The county says every figure comes from the applicant and has not been independently verified. The site is zoned RU-4 (Rural), and the Planning and Zoning Commission, not the Board of Supervisors, decides the case unless someone appeals.

How SpaceX fits in is described differently by the local outlets. News 4 Tucson (KVOA) reported that SpaceX officially announced at the Nov. 4 meeting that it is the company behind the proposal, and that Riley Trettle, the company's head of energy and supercomputer department, said the Tombstone name was used because SpaceX on an application "draws attention" from outside the county. 13 News Tucson (KOLD) wrote that SpaceX hosted the meeting, that the application names Tombstone Resources, and that the exact relationship between the two companies is unclear; a SpaceX representative was not available for comment. The county page calls the meeting applicant-hosted by Tombstone. Voltgrid found no written SpaceX statement as of Nov. 9.

For scale, KJZZ reported that 6 GW is six times the load of Project Blue in neighboring Pima County and twice that of the rejected La Osa proposal in Pinal County, and would rank third nationally behind a 9 GW Utah project and an 11 GW Texas project. It is also far above the 420 MW that Anthropic's Nova Scotia campus would draw by mid-2028. Voltgrid reported earlier on xAI's Colossus 2 build-out in Mississippi.

How 6 GW Would Reach the Site

Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO), which owns the neighboring Apache Generating Station, would sell the land and supply wholesale power, KJZZ reported. Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative (SSVEC) would provide retail service. SSVEC said it will require the developer to pay for the upgrades needed to deliver all 6 GW and is negotiating financial protections in case the project closes or uses less power than requested. The application puts the grid investment at $3.6 billion, according to the Arizona Daily Star. The conceptual plan also includes natural-gas-fired backup generators for 90 MW of intermittent backup needs, KJZZ said.

The applicant says the towers would be dry-cooled, using 3 million to 5 million gallons once to fill the system and 2 million to 3 million gallons a year for staff sanitation, per KJZZ. The Daily Star reported that an existing well would supply up to 10 acre-feet a year. The site sits a few thousand feet from Willcox Playa, a landing area for migratory sandhill cranes, and the developer says the design limits water access, lighting and building height to protect them. Tombstone also claims about 1,000 permanent jobs, up to $103 million a year in tax revenue and 10% to 40% lower bills for other SSVEC members; those are applicant claims, not county findings.

What Is Not Confirmed Yet

The county has made no determination on compliance or approval. The Planning and Zoning Commission hearing is set for Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. in Bisbee, moved up from 4 p.m. because of public interest, and written comments must arrive by noon on Nov. 27 to reach the commission's packet. KJZZ reported on Nov. 3 that more than 1,000 people had signed a petition against the project.

Still open: the formal SpaceX–Tombstone relationship, which phase and how many megawatts come first, who finances the grid upgrades if SSVEC's protections fail, and where the water would come from. KJZZ reported the applicant says one company intends to use the facility for AI model training and inference, and has not named it.