Bezos’ Blue Origin Plans $600 Million Expansion in Florida

Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, will invest $600 million to expand its Rocket Park campus in Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to a statement from Governor Ron DeSantis.

The planned 830,000-square-foot manufacturing facility will increase the volume and mass that can be delivered into orbit. The governor’s office said the project will leverage Florida’s Spaceport Improvement Program, a state infrastructure funding initiative for aerospace development.

The increased investment on Florida’s “Space Coast” will create 500 aerospace jobs with an average salary of $98,000.

“Project Horizon is the latest and most ambitious chapter in Blue Origin’s decade-long commitment to Florida,” Blue Origin’s chief executive, Dave Limp, said in a statement. The Seattle-based company has 4,000 employees across 11 sites on Florida’s Space Coast, east of Orlando.

In a recent interview on CNBC, Bezos spoke about the company’s plans to put data centers in space.

Bezos said for orbital data centers to be realistic, “launch cost has to come down very significantly by a factor of 10. That’s what we’re working on right here. That’s what Blue Origin is doing.”

Anna J Kaiser reporting for Bloomberg.