Elon Musk's xAI commits over $20 billion to Mississippi data center amid environmental concerns

Musk's xAI to invest over $20 billion in Mississippi data center

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI is investing more than $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, state Governor Tate Reeves said in a statement on Thursday, as a boom in generative AI fuels demand for increased computing power. Interest in data centers swelled last year as tech giants and AI hyperscalers planned and invested billions of dollars in spending to scale up infrastructure. xAI's latest expansion underscores its ambitious push to compete more effectively with industry leaders OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude by training increasingly advanced models. xAI expects to begin data center operations in Southaven in February 2026, the statement added. Musk had announced the purchase of the data center, called "MACROHARDRR", on December 30. The billionaire had said that it would take xAI's compute power to 2GW, but did not provide investment details or its location at the time. The data center is close to xAI's newly acquired power plant site in Southaven and its existing data center in Memphis, Tennessee, according to the governor's statement. Memphis houses xAI's supercomputer cluster known as Colossus, touted as the largest in the world. The company has spent $7.8 billion in cash in the first nine months of the year, Bloomberg reported earlier in the day, as startups in the AI space typically burn through huge amounts of cash, with billions poured into acquiring pricey, advanced data center hardware. Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Elon Musk's xAI to build $20 billion data center in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI is set to spend $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday, calling it the largest private investment in the state's history. The data center, called MACROHARDRR, is being built in Mississippi's DeSoto County near Memphis, Tennessee. It will be the company's third data center in the greater Memphis area. xAI CFO Anthony Armstrong said the cluster of data centers will house "the world's largest supercomputer" with 2 gigawatts of computing power. The announcement comes as xAI faces scrutiny over its data center projects in the Memphis area. The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center have raised concerns over air pollution generated by xAI's supercomputer facility located near predominantly Black communities in Memphis. A petition by the Safe and Sound Coalition, a Southaven group opposing xAI's developments, calls for shutting down xAI's operations in the area and has received more than 900 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. xAI did not immediately respond when asked for comment about environmental concerns. A fact sheet released by the Mississippi governor's office said environmental responsibility is a "core commitment" for xAI. During the announcement, Reeves personally thanked Musk. Reeves predicted the investment would bring hundreds of permanent jobs to the community, thousands of indirect subcontracting jobs, and tax revenue to support public services. Under the incentives for data centers passed in 2024, the state will waive all sales, corporate income and franchise taxes on the xAI development. Saving sales taxes on the computing power that xAI is purchasing would likely be worth a substantial amount of money, but the Mississippi Development Authority did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' questions about how much tax revenue Mississippi will give up. DeSoto County and the city of Southaven have also agreed to allow substantially reduced property taxes. xAI is expected to begin data center operations in Southaven next month.

Elon Musk's xAI to build $20 billion data center in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI is set to spend $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday, calling it the largest private investment in the state's history. The data center, called MACROHARDRR, is being built in Mississippi's DeSoto County near Memphis, Tennessee. It will be the company's third data center in the greater Memphis area. xAI CFO Anthony Armstrong said the cluster of data centers will house "the world's largest supercomputer" with 2 gigawatts of computing power. The announcement comes as xAI faces scrutiny over its data center projects in the Memphis area. The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center have raised concerns over air pollution generated by xAI's supercomputer facility located near predominantly Black communities in Memphis. A petition by the Safe and Sound Coalition, a Southaven group opposing xAI's developments, calls for shutting down xAI's operations in the area and has received more than 900 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. xAI did not immediately respond when asked for comment about environmental concerns. A fact sheet released by the Mississippi governor's office said environmental responsibility is a "core commitment" for xAI. During the announcement, Reeves personally thanked Musk. Reeves predicted the investment would bring hundreds of permanent jobs to the community, thousands of indirect subcontracting jobs, and tax revenue to support public services. Under the incentives for data centers passed in 2024, the state will waive all sales, corporate income and franchise taxes on the xAI development. Saving sales taxes on the computing power that xAI is purchasing would likely be worth a substantial amount of money, but the Mississippi Development Authority did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' questions about how much tax revenue Mississippi will give up. DeSoto County and the city of Southaven have also agreed to allow substantially reduced property taxes. xAI is expected to begin data center operations in Southaven next month.

Elon Musk's xAI to build $20 billion data center in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. -- Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI is set to spend $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday, calling it the largest private investment in the state's history. The data center, called MACROHARDRR, is being built in Mississippi's DeSoto County near Memphis, Tennessee. It will be the company's third data center in the greater Memphis area. xAI CFO Anthony Armstrong said the cluster of data centers will house "the world's largest supercomputer" with 2 gigawatts of computing power. The announcement comes as xAI faces scrutiny over its data center projects in the Memphis area. The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center have raised concerns over air pollution generated by xAI's supercomputer facility located near predominantly Black communities in Memphis. A petition by the Safe and Sound Coalition, a Southaven group opposing xAI's developments, calls for shutting down xAI's operations in the area and has received more than 900 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. xAI did not immediately respond when asked for comment about environmental concerns. A fact sheet released by the Mississippi governor's office said environmental responsibility is a "core commitment" for xAI. During the announcement, Reeves personally thanked Musk. Reeves predicted the investment would bring hundreds of permanent jobs to the community, thousands of indirect subcontracting jobs, and tax revenue to support public services. Under the incentives for data centers passed in 2024, the state will waive all sales, corporate income and franchise taxes on the xAI development. Saving sales taxes on the computing power that xAI is purchasing would likely be worth a substantial amount of money, but the Mississippi Development Authority did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' questions about how much tax revenue Mississippi will give up. DeSoto County and the city of Southaven have also agreed to allow substantially reduced property taxes. xAI is expected to begin data center operations in Southaven next month.

Elon Musk's XAI to Build $20 Billion Data Center in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI is set to spend $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Thursday, calling it the largest private investment in the state's history. The data center, called MACROHARDRR, is being built in Mississippi's DeSoto County near Memphis, Tennessee. It will be the company's third data center in the greater Memphis area. xAI CFO Anthony Armstrong said the cluster of data centers will house "the world's largest supercomputer" with 2 gigawatts of computing power. The announcement comes as xAI faces scrutiny over its data center projects in the Memphis area. The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center have raised concerns over air pollution generated by xAI's supercomputer facility located near predominantly Black communities in Memphis. A petition by the Safe and Sound Coalition, a Southaven group opposing xAI's developments, calls for shutting down xAI's operations in the area and has received more than 900 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. xAI did not immediately respond when asked for comment about environmental concerns. A fact sheet released by the Mississippi governor's office said environmental responsibility is a "core commitment" for xAI. During the announcement, Reeves personally thanked Musk. Reeves predicted the investment would bring hundreds of permanent jobs to the community, thousands of indirect subcontracting jobs, and tax revenue to support public services. Under the incentives for data centers passed in 2024, the state will waive all sales, corporate income and franchise taxes on the xAI development. Saving sales taxes on the computing power that xAI is purchasing would likely be worth a substantial amount of money, but the Mississippi Development Authority did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' questions about how much tax revenue Mississippi will give up. DeSoto County and the city of Southaven have also agreed to allow substantially reduced property taxes. xAI is expected to begin data center operations in Southaven next month.

Elon Musk's xAI to build $20 billion data centre in Mississippi

Elon Musk's xAI plans to invest $20 billion in a vast data centre in Southaven, Mississippi, the state's biggest-ever private project. The site will host "the world's largest supercomputer" with 2 gigawatts of computing power. The announcement comes as xAI faces scrutiny over its data centre projects in the Memphis area. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI is set to spend $20 billion to build a data centre in Southaven, Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced, calling it the largest private investment in the state's history. The data centre, called 'MACROHARDRR', is being built in Mississippi's DeSoto County near Memphis, Tennessee. It will be the company's third data centre in the greater Memphis area. xAI CFO Anthony Armstrong said the cluster of data centres will house "the world's largest supercomputer" with 2 gigawatts of computing power. The announcement comes as xAI faces scrutiny over its data centre projects in the Memphis area. The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center have raised concerns over air pollution generated by xAI's supercomputer facility located near predominantly Black communities in Memphis. A petition by the Safe and Sound Coalition, a Southaven group opposing xAI's developments, calls for shutting down xAI's operations in the area and has received more than 900 signatures as of Thursday afternoon. xAI did not immediately respond when asked for comment about environmental concerns. A fact sheet released by the Mississippi governor's office said environmental responsibility is a "core commitment" for xAI. During the announcement, Reeves personally thanked Musk. Reeves predicted the investment would bring hundreds of permanent jobs to the community, thousands of indirect subcontracting jobs, and tax revenue to support public services. Under the incentives for data centres passed in 2024, the state will waive all sales, corporate income and franchise taxes on the xAI development. Saving sales taxes on the computing power that xAI is purchasing would likely be worth a substantial amount of money, but the Mississippi Development Authority did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' questions about how much tax revenue Mississippi will give up. DeSoto County and the city of Southaven have also agreed to allow substantially reduced property taxes. xAI is expected to begin data centre operations in Southaven next month.

Elon Musk's xAI to invest over $20B in Mississippi data center

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI (X.AI) is investing over $20B to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, according to the office of state Governor Tate Reeves. The project will create hundreds of permanent jobs throughout DeSoto County, the statement The new facility will expand xAI's computing power to nearly 2 gigawatts and boost infrastructure for its Grok AI chatbot and related projects. xAI secured a sales and use tax exemption and fee-in-lieu agreements from local authorities to support the data center project. xAI reported a net loss of $1.46B last quarter, up from $1B previously, largely due to significant investments in AI infrastructure and development.

Musk's xAI to invest over $20 billion in Mississippi data center

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI is investing more than $20 billion to build a data center in Southaven, Mississippi, state Governor Tate Reeves said in a statement on Thursday, as a boom in generative AI fuels demand for increased computing power. Interest in data centers swelled last year as tech giants and AI hyperscalers planned and invested billions of dollars in spending to scale up infrastructure. xAI's latest expansion underscores its ambitious push to compete more effectively with industry leaders OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude by training increasingly advanced models. xAI expects to begin data center operations in Southaven in February 2026, the statement added. Musk had announced the purchase of the data center, called "MACROHARDRR", on December 30. The billionaire had said that it would take xAI's compute power to 2GW, but did not provide investment details or its location at the time. The data center is close to xAI's newly acquired power plant site in Southaven and its existing data center in Memphis, Tennessee, according to the governor's statement. Memphis houses xAI's supercomputer cluster known as Colossus, touted as the largest in the world. The company has spent $7.8 billion in cash in the first nine months of the year, Bloomberg reported earlier in the day, as startups in the AI space typically burn through huge amounts of cash, with billions poured into acquiring pricey, advanced data center hardware.