SpaceX is offering employees a 20% pay increase if they sign up for six weeks of work at its data center sites around Memphis, according to Business Insider.
The premium will be added to an employee’s regular salary or hourly wage only for the duration of the assignment, according to a company-wide email from early October reviewed by Business Insider. Volunteers are also eligible for “bonuses tied to program success,” and SpaceX will cover their travel expenses and logistics.
“We now need leaders — current and emerging — to guide teams and remove blockers as we bring more supercomputers online,” the email read. It also noted that volunteers do not need to hold management positions. While a background in construction is helpful, “drive matters most.”
Applicants should have a solid performance record, and employees who have been with the company for more than a year will receive preference.
READ: Elon Musk plans to merge SpaceX and Tesla in a $3.6 trillion deal (October 21, 2026)
Employees who volunteer should expect to spend six weeks on-site in Memphis, Tennessee, or Southaven, Mississippi, where SpaceX is expanding its Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centers to meet surging demand for computing capacity, according to Quartz.
A separate email reviewed by Business Insider shows that SpaceX has offered employees a similar 20% pay premium since at least August. That email called for “SpaceX experts and aces” to work on the expansion for three months. The program is scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2026, although it could be extended.
The initiative comes after SpaceX reported its third-quarter results on Tuesday. The company posted $14.6 billion in revenue, including $7.5 billion from its Super Intelligence segment, which encompasses its neocloud business, the Grok chatbot and the Cursor coding tool.
CEO Elon Musk said during the earnings call that SpaceX had been “hounded relentlessly” by companies seeking to rent its computing capacity.
“I’ve been spending, personally, a lot of my time in Memphis, often four days a week,” Musk said on the call, according to Business Insider. He also said his goal was to add another 10 gigawatts of computing capacity by the end of 2027.
READ: SpaceX faces $80 billion challenge to rival US wireless carriers despite spectrum deal (October 19, 2026)
Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen disclosed in September that SpaceX had secured a computing deal worth $1.1 billion per month with an undisclosed company. He said payments under the agreement would begin in December.
Earlier this month, Musk said he was considering combining SpaceX and Tesla into a single entity spanning rockets, satellites, internet services, chatbots, social media, robots and cars.
On Tuesday, he said both companies had established special committees of independent directors to examine a potential merger, which he described as “a good idea.” However, Musk acknowledged that, as a major shareholder and executive at both companies, he would be a “conflicted party.” He cautioned that there was no guarantee the two sides would reach an agreement.