Elon Musk's 'world's largest supercomputer' lands in Memphis — and locals are choking

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🗞️ Driving the news: Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has established what it claims to be the world’s largest supercomputer — powered by gas turbines — in a low-income, predominantly Black neighborhood in southwest Memphis
• Residents of Boxtown, already surrounded by heavy industry, say the facility is worsening local air pollution, while xAI operates without finalized air permits for its turbines

🔭 The context: Memphis officials have promoted xAI’s Colossus data center as a cornerstone of economic revitalization, promising jobs and $30 million in annual tax revenue
• However, xAI’s use of 35 unpermitted gas turbines, producing up to 420 MW of power, has sparked local outcry due to the health risks from pollutants like nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde
• The facility lies in an area with one of the highest cancer risks from industrial pollution in the U.S., and where past environmental battles have successfully blocked other high-polluting projects

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The case highlights the growing environmental toll of AI infrastructure and the persistent injustice of siting polluting facilities in marginalized communities
• It also raises alarms about the rollback of federal pollution safeguards and environmental justice programs under the current U.S. administration
• If unchecked, similar high-emissions data centers could proliferate as AI demands soar, undermining national climate goals and exacerbating health disparities

⏭️ What's next: xAI has applied for permits for 15 of the 35 turbines, while 20 others are being decommissioned
• Community organizations and environmental law groups are pressing for enforcement action, arguing the facility is illegally operating under a misapplied exemption
• Meanwhile, xAI is planning a second, even larger facility in Memphis
• The outcome of the permitting review and growing national scrutiny could shape how data centers are regulated amid the AI boom

💬 One quote: “It’s an actual gas plant in the middle of a neighborhood and you don’t need any permitting? Something has failed drastically and significantly with our system of checks and balances.” — Rep. Justin J. Pearson, Tennessee state legislator

📈 One stat: The cancer risk from industrial sources in southwest Memphis is 4.1 times higher than the EPA’s acceptable limit, according to a ProPublica analysis

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