Shares of AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) climbed 3% in premarket trading on Tuesday after Midland officials projected a 132% return on the city’s incentive investment tied to a major manufacturing expansion.
The Midland Development Corporation approved a performance-based incentive package worth up to $66 million over 30 years to support AST SpaceMobile’s planned satellite production facility.
The proposed facility would span at least 400,000 square feet, located next to the company’s existing Spaceport Business Park operations, and still requires Midland City Council approval to move forward.
Midland officials said the expansion could generate $116 million in local property tax revenue, with the agreement notably excluding any property or sales-tax abatements.
At full buildout, AST would be required to create 1,800 jobs, generate $144 million in annual payroll, and make up to $150 million in taxable capital investment in the region.
Positions are expected to span satellite assembly, manufacturing, engineering, warehousing, supply chain, and production-support roles, with AST highlighting in-house training programs for workers new to aerospace.
MDC Executive Director Sara Harris noted the project could lift the Midland metropolitan area’s GDP by 1.8%, helping reduce the region’s heavy reliance on oil and gas revenues.
“This is significant in terms of economic diversification,” Harris said, adding that expanding non-energy industries could help insulate Midland from commodity-price swings.
MDC Chairman Brad Bullock underscored the scale of the opportunity for the region, pointing to AST’s potential to become its largest private employer outside the energy sector.
“If they meet all of these projections, they perhaps will be the largest private employer and have nothing to do with the oil and gas industry,” Bullock said. “It’s a pretty amazing opportunity.”
The expansion represents a dramatic leap from AST’s original Midland footprint, which dated back to 2018 when the company announced an 85,000-square-foot plant expected to create more than 160 jobs.
The latest proposal calls for a facility nearly five times larger than that original plant, with a job target more than ten times the size of the initial commitment.
“In terms of performance, AST has outperformed the requirements of the previous agreements that have been put in place,” Harris said, citing the company’s strong track record in Midland.
Separately, AST SpaceMobile also completed a $1 billion offering of convertible senior notes on Monday, generating approximately $983.6 million in net proceeds to fund growth and secure additional launch capacity.
ASTS stock had fallen 1% on Monday to close at $57.42, putting shares on pace for their worst monthly performance in more than two years before Tuesday’s premarket rebound.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits was rated “bullish” for ASTS, with 24-hour message volumes surging 214% as investors reacted to the Midland development news.
One Stocktwits user wrote, “$ASTS we know what’s happening. We held on better than the rest of space. Consider today a $3 day in the bank that’s just being veiled by algos and hedgers. Soon it’s gonna click.”
Another user commented, “$ASTS just watching the Midland Board meeting video. Nice to hear them talk so favorably about ASTS, the much needed diversity of work it brings to their community, and their sense that it’s ‘a pretty amazing opportunity to take advantage of.'”
