Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, recently acquired a 1-million-square-foot property in Southwest Memphis, Tennessee, as confirmed by the Greater Memphis Chamber on Friday. This move signifies the startup's strategic initiative to expand its AI infrastructure amidst growing industry competition.
The purchase follows xAI's earlier declaration in December to scale up its Colossus supercomputer, aiming to accommodate a minimum of (GPUs) within the state. Colossus is a key element in Musk's AI strategy, as he strives to outperform competitors like OpenAI amid escalating tensions with ChatGPT's CEO, Sam Altman.
The Chamber noted that the Colossus supercomputer is well on track to reach supercluster dimensions, aligning with xAI's December statement. Despite its technological advancements, the expansion has faced backlash from environmental activists due to the substantial energy consumption of data centers.
In addition to the facility acquisition, xAI's recent investments include an $80 million water recycling plant and the implementation of the largest Tesla Megapack deployment worldwide for data center operations. Furthermore, recent reports indicate that Tesla, under Musk's direction, plans to construct a factory in Texas for managing and storing Megapack energy solutions.