Greg Abbott
Governor of Texas since 2015; previously served as Texas attorney general, a justice on the Supreme Court of Texas, and a state district judge.
Saronic Plans $3.2 Billion Texas Shipyard for Autonomous Vessels
Saronic Technologies plans to spend $3.2 billion building Port Alpha, a Brownsville shipyard for medium- and large-class autonomous surface vessels that CEO Dino Mavrookas says would address a severe shortfall in U.S. shipbuilding capacity. He says the greenfield project could create 10,000 jobs and eventually reach 2 million gross tons of annual capacity, while Governor Greg Abbott argues Texas can supply the workforce through its technical colleges and expanding Rio Grande Valley infrastructure. Mavrookas also casts the yard as a national-security asset following the reported combat use of Saronic technology in the Iran conflict.
Texas Uses State Grants to Build a Commercial-Space Cluster
Texas is building a statewide commercial-space industry around NASA talent in Houston, launch sites on the coast and in West Texas, and manufacturing and testing operations in Central Texas. Bloomberg reports that state grants are reinforcing a model in which NASA contracts help companies finance early development, while Texas offers industrial capacity and a business-friendly environment to keep them expanding locally. Loren Grush, Bloomberg’s space reporter, says SpaceX’s scale has made the strategy more visible—and its environmental and local costs around Boca Chica harder to ignore.