SpaceX Sues to Block Release of Terafab Tax Records in Texas

SpaceX filed a lawsuit in Travis County’s 126th District Court this week seeking to stop Grimes County from releasing public records tied to its Terafab project, including the company’s full tax abatement application, after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office ordered most of those files disclosed, KBTX reported on September 9, 2026.

The petition names Paxton in his official capacity and Grimes County as defendants and asks for a temporary restraining order plus an injunction while the case is pending. In the filing, SpaceX describes Terafab as a semiconductor and AI-hardware plant proposed in Grimes County in collaboration with Tesla, and says chip manufacturing supports plans for AI data centers in space. The company argues that releasing tax-abatement paperwork, negotiating correspondence, technical and site details, cost figures, and employee contact information would cause “substantial competitive harm,” and that some technical material is shielded under Texas homeland-security rules for critical infrastructure.

Local requestors, including Grimes County Citizens for Responsible Development and a county resident, sought the tax application and negotiation records in June. The county withheld much of that set; on July 28 the AG largely rejected those claims, allowing only certain attorney-client material to stay secret and noting that trade-secret protections belong to the business, not the county. SpaceX is now making those arguments itself in court. GCCRD said its concern is whether tax-incentive talks for a massive economic-development project should stay hidden from residents, and said it is reviewing whether to intervene.

The fight sits on earlier Terafab milestones already covered here, from the $119 billion Texas chip-factory plan through the August SpaceX–Tesla Terafab groundbreaking. SpaceX had not commented to KBTX on timing when that report published.