SpaceX tests brick-and-mortar location for Starlink
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is launching into the nation’s retail game with its first in-person location for its internet provider, Starlink.
Tucked into the Nebraska Crossing shopping center in Gretna, Nebraska, the inaugural Starlink store sells its Starlink Kit, alongside Starlink-branded merchandise, according to an X user that visited the store, which apparently counts footwear maker Crocs as a neighbor.
The Gretna store isn’t Starlink’s only planned retail opening, reported PC Mag. A newsletter that reportedly went out to subscribers detailed the company’s plans to expand internet access in underserved U.S. regions by adding three additional brick-and-mortar locations: one at Omaha’s Westroads Mall; one at SouthPointe Pavilions in Lincoln, Nebraska; and another in Sioux Fall, Indiana’s Empire Mall. Starlink also plopped a self-service vending machine in West Des Moines, Iowa’s Jordan Creek Town Center.
Starlink products are also available at third-party, in-person retailers, including Best Buy, which currently sells the standard Wi-Fi kit for almost $280. A representative from Nebraska Crossing confirmed that the Starlink store, listed on the mall’s directory, is open. No one was available to answer questions about location size or lease terms.
Fermi loses $150 million in funding for Texas data center
After revealing plans for Project Matador, an 11-gigawatt data center and artificial intelligence campus in Amarillo, Texas, in October, AI infrastructure startup Fermi lost $150 million in construction funding as a prospective tenant retreated from a construction-advance agreement. The news came Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, pulling the company’s stock price down 34%, reported Reuters.
Although the so-called first tenant is terminating its “advance in aid of construction,” the entity is still negotiating the terms of a lease at Fermi’s Texas campus, the SEC filing stated, which also said Fermi “remains confident that it will be able to meet its expected power delivery schedule at Project Matador as the demand for behind-the-meter power for AI remains robust over the near and long term.”
Founded by Rick Perry, former Texas governor and former U.S. energy secretary, Fermi is structured as a real estate investment trust. The REIT launched its initial public offering in the fall, reaching a valuation north of $19 billion in early October.
Fed board confirms majority of regional presidents
The Federal Reserve’s board of governors voted unanimously to reappoint 11 reserve bank presidents to new five-year terms starting March 1.
The reappointments follow “a comprehensive review by the boards of directors of the regional reserve banks, and the unanimous concurrence of Federal Reserve Board members,” the Fed said in the announcement.
The presidents of the Fed’s regional reserve banks are selected by their respective boards of directors, typically comprising business and nonprofit leaders, but those appointments require confirmation by the Washington, D.C.-based board of governors. All 12 presidents come up for reappointment simultaneously every five years.
Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic will not be returning. Last month, he said he will retire when his term expires at the end of February.
It’s worth noting that a Fed president can generally serve until the age of 65 or for 10 years, whichever is longer. All 12 reserve bank presidents participate in the Federal Open Market Committee meetings, where the interest rate is set.