Another multi-billion-dollar company expanding on taxpayer’s dime
Another multi-billion-dollar company expanding on taxpayer’s dime
By Bethany Blankley Mon, October 12, 2026 at 9:01 PM UTC
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A factory worker in a hard hat and safety vest directs the positioning of large industrial machinery inside a manufacturing facility. Photo: Kateryna Babaieva / Pexels
(The Center Square) – Another multi-billion-dollar company is expanding operations in Texas utilizing taxpayer money: Blue Origin Manufacturing LLC.
The company says it’s making a $544 million capital investment to build an advanced manufacturing and operations campus in the rural community of Hutto in Williamson County.
To expand operations in central Texas, it is receiving an $18.1 million Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) grant and a Veteran Created Job Bonus of $10,000 approved through the Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office in the governor’s office.
Owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, the company’s stock valuation is over $140 billion.
Gov. Greg Abbott lauded the expansion in the rural community outside of Austin, saying, “Texas is the launchpad to a future of possibilities. Blue Origin’s sizeable expansion of their investment in Texas in support of their satellite communications network is testament to the state’s leadership in the advanced manufacturing and space industries. Texas offers innovative technology leaders the space, speed, and talent needed to rapidly scale operations.”
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said, “Texas has long understood what it takes to lead in space exploration. We're proud to grow our footprint here in Texas, tap into the world-class talent this state has to offer, and help ensure America remains the leader in space innovation.”
Local officials praised the announcement, pointing to job creation and increasing its tax base.
Blue Origin plans to build Constellation Park, a 1.3‑million‑square‑foot multi-facility complex to serve as its central production hub for its satellite and communications programs. Constellation Park will support manufacturing for TeraWave, Blue Origin’s satellite communications network, which it says will support “enterprise, data center, and government users who depend on resilient global connectivity for critical operations.”
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The facility will also expand its production for Quartz, a global ground communications network needed for low earth orbit missions, and house manufacturing for solar arrays, avionics, telecommunications and other satellite hardware, it says.
Blue Origin also manufactures and operates rocket engines, reusable launch vehicles, lunar landers and satellite systems.
It first began operations in Texas in 2006 when it established its Launch Site One. Since then, it has expanded its workforce to include 550 current Texas employees. Constellation Park will add more than 2,000 new manufacturing and related jobs over the next 10 years, it says.
Blue Origin is the latest billion-dollar company receiving taxpayer money to expand operations in Texas.
Morgan Stanley Services Group, Inc., with a $314 billion market cap valuation, received nearly $44 million in TEF grant funds and a VCJB $40,000 award last month, The Center Square reported.
Earlier this month, the trillion-dollar pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly received a $5.5 million TEF grant. SpaceX, valued at more than $1.7 trillion, received $30 million in TEF grants and two local school districts are losing millions of dollars in property taxes through another JETI grant, The Center Square reported.
Critics such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation argue TEF is corporate welfare and companies would expand operations in Texas anyway because of Texas’ business friendly policies. The grants impose additional costs on cities “in the form of reduced revenues and increased liabilities,” and there’s no meaningful measurement to quantify incentives to economic well-being, the Better Cities Project has argued, The Center Square reported.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation argues TEF should be eliminated and has proposed an alternative solution, noting that “The interstate subsidy race represents an ever-spiraling stairway to more government intervention in the market.”
The Center for Economic Accountability has long called on the governor and legislature to end TEF and other taxpayer-funded grants, arguing they “make local economies less free, less fair, less inclusive, less resilient, less entrepreneurial, less innovative and more biased in favor of large incumbent businesses.
Source: “AOL Money”
