Elon Musk’s Memphis Takeover — The Marvels And Messiness Of SpaceX’s AI Buildout
Elon Musk's xAI, now known as SpaceXAI following a merger with SpaceX, has made the Memphis, Tennessee area the center of its AI ambitions. XAI
Elon Musk's xAI, now known as SpaceXAI following a merger with SpaceX, has made the Memphis, Tennessee area the center of its AI ambitions. XAI is building three data centers there, as well as a power plant in Southaven, Mississippi. XAI's AI infrastructure there truly deserves its name Colossus. It's a modern marvel that was built with breakneck speed. Anthropic and Google are now renting compute capacity at the data centers in a deals worth billions of dollars. But some say the buildout has been chaotic. XAI is now facing multiple lawsuits accusing the company of using loud, pollution-emitting gas turbines, some without the required Clean Air Act permits.
CNBC traveled to Memphis and Southaven to speak with locals to learn why the data centers are such a flashpoint, to find out why backlash against data centers is spreading nationwide, and to learn what hyperscalers can do to win support as they race to build AI infrastructure. Chapters 00:00 - 3:54 Introduction 3:55 - 10:28 SpaceX’s AI ambitions 10:29 - 17:02 Gas-burning turbines 17:03 - 20:28 Constant noise 20:29 - 22:37 Millions of gallons of water 22:38 - 28:59 Growing AI backlash Senior Director: Jeniece Pettitt Reporter: Lora Kolodny Camera and Additional Editing: Andrew Evers Edited by: Marisa Forziati Animation: Jason Reginato, Emily Park VP, Executive Producer: Kamelia Angelova Senior Technology Editor: Ari Levy Bureau Chief: Christina Passariello » Subscribe to CNBC » Subscribe to CNBC TV About CNBC: From 'Wall Street' to 'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered.
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