xAI Colossus 2 — Southaven Turbine Plant
"Musk shipped a power plant to Mississippi and ran dozens of gas turbines with no air permits, half a mile from homes."
Stateline Road West · Southaven, DeSoto County, MS
Source: Primary source
xAI Colossus 2 — Southaven Turbine Plant is an operating data center in DeSoto County, MS, operated by xAI Corp.. DataCentersExposed has documented 500 MW of reported power capacity, a 812,955 sq ft footprint and 1 tracked EPA enforcement record at this site.
Reporting by Eric Keller · Updated Jun 17, 2026
Overview
source: linkAcross the state line from the Memphis Colossus, xAI is building out Southaven, Mississippi (DeSoto County). It bought a 114-acre former Duke Energy power-plant site through an affiliate, MZT Tech LLC, and announced a separate $20 billion data center, branded MACROHARDRR, of roughly 800,000 square feet. The site's job is to generate power: a turbine plant, run through a joint venture with Solaris Energy called Stateline Power, aimed at well over a gigawatt feeding the Memphis machines.
Mississippi regulators approved 41 permanent gas turbines in March 2026 over loud public opposition, replacing the 27 turbines xAI had already installed with no air permit. By May 2026, reporting found 46 turbines on site still without permits. Estimated emissions top 1,700 tons of nitrogen oxides a year, likely the metro's largest single source, with homes about half a mile away and an elementary school within a mile. The NAACP, Earthjustice and the SELC sued under the Clean Air Act in April 2026.
The pattern reads as permitting arbitrage: the prestige compute and the bragging rights stay in Tennessee while the dirtiest generation, and its pollution, land on a majority-Black Mississippi town that just handed over a $20 billion incentive package.
Operator chain
- Ultimate parentxAI Corp.
- This facilityxAI Colossus 2 — Southaven Turbine Plant
The grid behind this site, right now
source: MISO · gridstatus- Natural Gas35.6%
- Coal29.9%
- Solar14.3%
- Nuclear10.0%
- Imports6.6%
- Other2.3%
- Wind1.3%
Real-time generation mix for the MISO grid this site draws from, as of Jul 15, 2026, 5:30 PM. ISO-wide, not this facility's own metering. Source: gridstatus.
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: GDELT- DOJ may intervene in NAACP lawsuit over xAI’s data center gas turbines - Utility DiveUtility Dive· May 15, 2026
- Musk’s xAI is running nearly 50 gas turbines unchecked at its Mississippi data center - TechCrunchTechCrunch· May 13, 2026
- NAACP sues xAI over data center turbines in Southaven - Mississippi TodayMississippi Today· Apr 15, 2026
- We’re suing xAI for an illegal power plant fueling its Colossus II data center. - EarthjusticeEarthjustice· Apr 14, 2026
- Musk's xAI gets go-ahead for 41 natural gas turbines in Mississippi to power Colossus data centers - Data Center DynamicsData Center Dynamics· Mar 11, 2026
- As Musk’s xAI Data Centers Encroach on Southaven, North Mississippi Residents Push Back - Mississippi Free PressMississippi Free Press· Feb 17, 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 500 MW (disclosed IT power): 2 L/kWh cooling (hot climate) + 0.55 gal/kWh embedded in MISO 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 2026-04-14
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, J. P. Freeman Elementary/Middle in Memphis, is 0.9 mi from this site (548 students). 2 public schools sit within a mile of the site.
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.