SpaceX offers 20% extra pay for relocation to Memphis or Southaven | What’s the deal?
SpaceX is offering employees a 20% pay increase to temporarily relocate to Memphis, Tennessee, or Southaven, Mississippi, and help accelerate the expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) data centres as demand for computing capacity surges.
The Elon Musk-led rocket company is offering the additional pay to employees who volunteer for six-week assignments supporting its supercomputer buildout, according to an email sent to employees in early October and seen by Business Insider.
“We now need leaders — current and emerging — to guide teams and remove blockers as we bring more supercomputers online,” the email said.
The company clarified that volunteers need not already hold managerial positions. While construction experience would be an advantage, “drive matters most”, it said.
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 logistics. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The employee deployment, described internally as a “surge”, is intended to accelerate the expansion of SpaceX’s Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centres in Memphis and Southaven.
SpaceX has used similar incentives to redirect employees towards critical projects. In 2022, CNBC reported that the company offered pay increases of 10-25% to employees willing to relocate temporarily to Texas to support its Starship rocket programme.
A separate email reviewed by Business Insider showed that SpaceX had been offering a 20% salary premium for Memphis assignments since at least August. That programme was initially scheduled to run until 31 December 2026, although it could be extended.
The data centres were originally developed by AI startup xAI, which was folded into SpaceX in February. They have since become central to the company's computing business, which includes renting processing capacity to other companies.
SpaceX reported on Tuesday that AI revenue, including income from compute rentals to companies such as Anthropic and Google, had climbed to more than $7 billion, accounting for nearly half of its quarterly revenue.
During an analyst call, Musk said SpaceX was being “hounded relentlessly” by companies seeking access to its computing capacity, adding that demand was sufficient for the company to have rented it out several times over.
The company has also reassigned senior executives to oversee the expansion, with a former Starship executive put in charge of building out computing capacity in Memphis, Business Insider previously reported.
Musk is personally overseeing the expansion, telling investors that he spends much of his time in Memphis.
“I've been spending, personally, a lot of my time in Memphis, often four days a week,” he said.
Sanchari Ghosh is an Assistant Editor at Mint with over 12 years of experience in journalism, specialising in personal finance, DLT & DeFi, geopolitics and foreign policy, with a particular emphasis on how these areas intersect. <br> She writes extensively about how money works in everyday life—helping readers navigate personal finance decisions. <br> As AI reshapes investing behaviour, capital is increasingly flowing into decentralized ecosystems, redefining how assets are managed, traded, and valued. She focuses on explaining how money flows within frameworks like Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), DeFi protocols, and crypto markets—while also exploring what the future of money could look like in a trustless, programmable financial world. <br> She also focuses on immigration-related issues, simplifying complex topics around visas, passports, overseas financial planning, and the many practical challenges Indians face while moving or living abroad. <br> Alongside personal finance, Sanchari has a strong understanding of international politics, contemporary and historical conflicts, and global state decisions. She closely tracks how geopolitical developments influence economies, markets, and individual financial choices, bringing together finance and global affairs in her reporting. <br> She began her career as a desk editor, which gave her a strong foundation in news writing. Over time, her interest naturally shifted toward personal finance. Before joining Mint in 2020, she worked DNA, The Times of India, Outlook Money, BloombergQuint, and ETMoney. At Mint, she got an opportunity to expand her coverage to include immigration and geopolitical developments while continuing to closely follow personal finance trends and market movements.As a journalist, she is committed to accuracy, intellectual rigour, and fairness. <br> She is an English Major and her work took her across cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. Living independently from an early age gave her firsthand experience in managing life and money on her own. This practical exposure sparked her strong interest in personal finance. <br> Outside the newsroom, Sanchari is a sports enthusiast who regularly plays lawn tennis and squash. In her younger years, she was also a national-level badminton player.
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