xAI Colossus (South Memphis)
"Elon Musk fired up as many as 35 gas turbines next to a Black Memphis neighborhood with no air permits."
3231 Paul R Lowery Road · Memphis, Shelby County, TN
Source: Primary source
xAI Colossus (South Memphis) is an operating data center in Shelby County, TN, operated by xAI Corp.. DataCentersExposed has documented 422 MW of reported power capacity, a 776,966 sq ft footprint and 1 tracked EPA enforcement record at this site.
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated Jun 17, 2026
Overview
source: linkxAI's Colossus is the supercomputer that trains Elon Musk's Grok, built inside the former Electrolux plant on Riverport Road in southwest Memphis. Musk announced it in 2024 and claimed the first phase came together in 122 days, then doubled in roughly three more months. It runs on the order of 100,000 to 200,000 Nvidia GPUs and draws an estimated 250 megawatts or more, with a second phase pushing toward gigawatt scale.
The accountability story is the power behind it. To energize the site fast, xAI installed a fleet of portable natural-gas turbines. The Southern Environmental Law Center used thermal and satellite imaging to count as many as 35 of them running with no Clean Air Act permits. The Shelby County Health Department eventually permitted only 15, in July 2025, and the NAACP appealed even that. The turbines sit beside Boxtown, a historically Black community with some of the highest asthma and cancer rates in Tennessee, and could become the single largest source of smog-forming nitrogen oxides in the Memphis metro.
The campus also pumps roughly 812,000 gallons a day from the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the region's drinking-water source, while an $80 million greywater treatment plant meant to offset that use was paused. Notably, xAI took no local tax abatement, and is projected to pay $13 million to $20 million a year in property tax.
Operator chain
- Ultimate parentxAI Corp.
- This facilityxAI Colossus (South Memphis)
Grid & water — why here
source: HIFLD · EPAThe closest existing grid infrastructure and the municipal water system this location sits in — the same constraints the buildout model screens on (it won't site a campus more than ~2 km from a substation or ~5 km from municipal water). Distances are straight-line to public HIFLD/EPA features, not a metered connection.
In the news
source: Google News- Pollution from Musk’s unpermitted xAI power project hits hardest in Black communitiesReuters· Jul 14, 2026
- MuskCorp Tries To Bribe Memphis With Cheaper Starlink So They’ll Ignore xAI Data Center PollutionTechdirt.· Jul 9, 2026
- Could Memphis ban data centers? Maybe.Daily Memphian· Jul 7, 2026
- DOJ moves to dismiss NAACP Clean Air Act lawsuit against xAIqz.com· Jul 3, 2026
- SpaceX offers half-price Starlink in Memphis amid backlash over xAI data centre디지털투데이· Jul 2, 2026
- Live Near a Noisy xAI Data Center? How About Half Off Starlink Satellite Internet?PCMag· Jun 30, 2026
Tax breaks & subsidies
source: Good Jobs First / GASB 77No per-deal tax break is linked to this site yet. No state discloses the recipient of a data-center abatement at the facility level, so per-site deals are rare in the public record. If you have a development agreement or board resolution for this site, send it to us.
Water use
No measured record exists, so this is a low-confidence model from 422 MW (disclosed IT power): 1.8 L/kWh cooling (temperate climate) + 0.5 gal/kWh embedded in TVA grid mix. How we estimate. Have a utility document? Send it and we'll replace this with the real figure.
EPA permits & violations
source: EPA ECHO- Clean Air Actno penaltysignificant · reported 2025-07-10
Environmental permits
source: Permit register- Air permit — 15 natural-gas turbines (24/7 operation)SCHD-xAI-2025-15TShelby County Health Department permitted 15 permanent gas turbines for continuous operation at the South Memphis Colossus site. Aerial imagery had counted roughly 35 turbines on site at the time, leaving the excess units unaddressed by the permit.
Air quality near this site
source: AirNowAir Quality Index from the nearest AirNow reporting area (Memphis), as of 2026-06-10. Regional context — not this facility's own emissions.
Who lives nearby
source: Census ACS 2023Demographics of the census tract this facility sits in (American Community Survey 5-year estimates). Environmental-justice context for who bears the local impacts.
Nearest school
source: HIFLD / NCESThe nearest public school, Double Tree Elementary in Memphis, is 3.9 mi from this site (372 students).
Schools are sensitive receptors for the noise, backup-generator exhaust, and traffic a large data center brings. Straight-line distance to the nearest public school (HIFLD/NCES, US public schools only).
Hearings timeline
No public-hearing records linked to this site yet. We surface planning-commission and board-of-supervisors dates when a record names a facility. If you know of a hearing on this site, tell us.