Saronic Selects Brownsville for $3 Billion Port Alpha Shipyard

Saronic selected the Port of Brownsville in Texas for its Port Alpha shipyard, a project the company values at more than $3 billion. The facility will occupy an initial 835-acre site in Cameron County with potential to expand to nearly 4,400 acres. Hot Air reported that the company completed a yearlong nationwide search before choosing the Texas location over sites in California and Virginia.

Saronic, founded in 2022, first outlined plans for Port Alpha in February 2025. The company estimates the yard could generate up to 10,000 direct jobs over the next decade and $264.5 billion in economic impact for Texas, including $160 billion for Cameron County. Texas Gov.

Greg Abbott stated that a fully built-out yard would deliver about $750 million a year in wages. The announcement follows operational milestones for Saronic's Corsair drone boats. On July 12, three Corsairs struck Iran's Bandar Abbas naval base in what U.S. Central Command described as the first combat use of unmanned surface vessels by American forces.

A Navy-operated Corsair also assisted in the rescue of two soldiers after an Army AH-64 Apache went down near the Strait of Hormuz, another first for an unmanned surface vessel, according to Central Command. Saronic executives visited Solano County, California, in September 2025 and April 2026.

Hot Air reported that state Sen. Christopher Cabaldon and members of the Solano County Board of Supervisors declined to meet with the company during the April visit. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration made a “Herculean effort” to keep negotiations alive after those visits, a source familiar with the talks told The Post.

California Forever, whose investors include founders of LinkedIn and Netscape led by Jan Sramek along with Marc Andreessen, had sought to link the shipyard to its East Solano Plan. The group withdrew that proposal from voters in 2024 after opposition and a county review that found shortcomings.