Willis reports on the manufacturing sector in the RGV and northern Tamaulipas

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - SpaceX will be hiring another 4,000 workers this year at its Starbase rocket launching facility at Boca Chica, says the executive director of South Texas Manufacturers Association.Mike Willis gave an overview of the manufacturing scene in the Rio Grande Valley and northern Tamaulipas in his monthly report for February. After running through a number of plant closures over the past two years he ended on a very positive note.“There's a lot going on. I think we're going to see a lot of announcements in the next year or so, up and down the Valley. So I am really pretty optimistic we'll see a lot more manufacturing job growth here than we've seen in a long time,” Willis said.With regard to SpaceX, Willis stays in close contact with the company’s local leadership.“On the good news front, SpaceX… and this may not be good news if you're a current manufacturer who's trying to hold on your workforce and find more people to hire… but SpaceX has confirmed that they're going to hire 4,000 more people in 2026 for Starbase. According to Wikipedia, SpaceX had 13,000 workers as of September 2023. The company, whose proper name is Space Exploration Technologies, Corp., had an operating income of $8 billion in 2025.Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., told the RGG Business Journal that he too has heard that SpaceX is hiring an additional 4,000 workers this year.“Four thousand new workers? Yes, that had been in the offing. During our conversations, they're expanding. Plus the movement or transfer of their headquarters, meaning additional employees. So the growth continues. We're very, very excited about it, obviously,” Treviño said.“It means we've got a lot of work to do. From an infrastructure standpoint. we need TxDOT to get cracking on Highway 4 sooner rather than later. There were too many people already on it. We’ve got to get that done. But these are good problems to have. These are great problems they have.”Editor's Note: Go to the RGG Business Journal for more border business stories. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.