Elsewhere, Elon Musk's company could need up to 1.1GW for a second supercomputer site.
Elon Musk’s xAI has removed some of the controversial natural gas turbines from its Memphis data center after a new electricity substation came online.
The AI company has been relying on temporary turbines to power its Colossus supercomputer since it launched last year, much to the chagrin of environmental campaigners who have raised concerns over the impact the turbines have on air quality in the area.
It comes as xAI enters discussions with utility company Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) about the power requirements for a planned second data center in the city, which could draw up to 1.1GW.
Gas gone?
It is thought up to 35 turbines were present on the site of xAI’s existing data center, generating 422MW of power. Last month, environmental campaigners claimed some of these were operating without permits and in violation of the Clean Air Act.
But a statement issued through the Memphis Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday said that an undisclosed number of the turbines have now been removed, and that the remaining machines would eventually be relegated to providing backup power only.
“The temporary natural gas turbines that were being used to power the phase one GPUs prior to grid connection are now being demobilized and will be removed from the site over the next two months,” the statement said.
“About half of the operating turbines will remain operating to power phase two GPUs of xAI until a second substation (No. 22) already in construction is completed and connected to the electric grid, which is planned for the fall of 2025, at which time, the remaining turbines will be relegated to a backup power role.”
The Memphis data center went live in July 2024. It had a reported initial capacity of 150MW, and an 8MW grid connection with the local power operator TVA, which was increased to 150MW in November.
The data center is being used to train and run the company’s AI chatbot, Grok, and is located on an industrial park at Paul Lowry Road, in southwest Memphis, at the site of a former Electrolux factory. Last October, Musk announced that the data center's capacity was set to double, with the facility in the process of adding an additional 100,000 Nvidia Hopper GPUs to the cluster.
Power plans for xAI’s new Memphis data center
Musk’s company is also planning to build a second data center in Memphis, having purchased a one million sq ft site on Tulane Road, which is located in the Whitehaven area of the city.
According to an update from MLGW, the company has yet to submit a power request for the data center, which is located close to the Southaven Combined Cycle natural gas power plant, which generates 780MW of power.
“MLGW is not currently conducting a system impact study for this site,” the update said. “xAI is not consuming significant electricity at this facility currently. MLGW received an initial request for 260MW of grid power for the Tulane location that was not studied.
“Since then, a range of grid power options from 260MW to 1.1GW has been discussed, and we have been informed that the finalized request for grid power at that site is forthcoming. Once submitted, MLGW will study the request in the due course of process.”
