SpaceX Offers Volunteers 20% Premium for Six-Week AI Assignments

SpaceX is offering eligible employees who volunteer for six-week assignments in Memphis or Southaven a 20% pay premium, adding temporary staffing support to its AI data center expansion.

The assignments support the Colossus expansion in Memphis, Tennessee, or Southaven, Mississippi. Volunteers receive the premium during their assignment, and the company covers travel and related expenses.

Separately, a broader surge effort was planned to run through Dec. 31, 2026, with a possible extension. That date applies to the broader effort, while the volunteer assignments last six weeks.

The staffing offer comes amid a wider U.S. buildout of AI computing capacity. Bitcoin miners have shifted power to AI data centers, in part by repurposing energized sites. By the close of 2025, projects representing 2,061 gigawatts of U.S. generation and storage capacity were seeking grid interconnection. Projects reaching commercial operation in 2025 had a median wait of more than five years from their interconnection request.