Billions, Gigawatts, and AI: Inside Musk’s Grand Plan for Memphis

Elon Musk’s xAI is reshaping the landscape of Memphis with one of the most ambitious artificial intelligence projects ever built.

On a 114-acre site near the Tennessee–Mississippi border, Musk is constructing a new power facility capable of generating more than a gigawatt of electricity — enough to power 800,000 homes.

The plant will feed a sprawling data center housing “Colossus,” the world’s largest supercomputer, powered by over 200,000 NVIDIA chips and running xAI’s chatbot, Grok.

Work is already underway on “Colossus 2,” an even larger expansion expected to cost tens of billions. Analysts say global AI infrastructure spending could exceed $3 trillion by 2028, but Musk’s bold investment comes with challenges.

The Memphis development has sparked local concern over water consumption, emissions, and the strain on the power grid.

While Musk has pledged to recycle wastewater and invest in local schools, critics question the long-term environmental toll. Still, for Musk, the goal is clear — to accelerate AI progress faster than competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic, and to anchor the next generation of artificial intelligence innovation in the American South.