MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Elon Musk confirmed on X that xAI is building a fourth data center near its existing Memphis-area facilities, while SpaceXAI prepares to remove dozens of turbines from its Southaven site and replace them with a permanent power plant.<\/p>\n
Fourth data center announced<\/p>\n
Musk posted on X at 6:44 p.m. on July 29 that the new facility, called \u201cMinihard,\u201d will be built to the right of the existing Colossus 2 and Macro-harder sites along Tulane Road. He said Minihard will feature the same 220,000 GB300s with 800-gigabit NICs as Macro-harder, but in what he described as an improved, denser configuration.<\/p>\n
Turbine removal in Southaven<\/p>\n
SpaceXAI is preparing to remove all 69 turbines<\/a> from its Stanton Road site in Southaven and replace them with a permanent 1.2-gigawatt power plant with 41 turbines. <\/p>\n Removal is set to begin in August and is expected to wrap up by July 2027.<\/p>\n The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has outlined rules xAI must follow going forward:<\/p>\n No new turbines after July 15, 2026Bi-weekly shutdown reports submitted to MDEQEach turbine has a set retirement dateEmissions tests required within 60 days on the 14 cleanest turbinesContinuous temperature and pressure monitoring after testing<\/p>\n Non-compliance could result in legal action.<\/p>\n Residents react<\/p>\n Southaven resident Jay White said the turbine noise had not been a major concern for him personally, but that he is focused on what the change means for the area.<\/p>\n \u201cHow it\u2019s going to impact the community and if they replace it with something better, I think that\u2019s going to be a good thing for the community to bring investments in this area,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n Southaven resident Susan Broadway said noise and traffic prompted her to speak out.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t hear it at first my husband was the one that said, do you hear that, do you hear that. I just thought someone was working in the neighborhood on the roads because we have new pavement. It just started to get more and more annoying with it,\u201d Broadway said.<\/p>\n Broadway said her community will remain engaged as the process moves forward.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll see and if it means more we\u2019ll keep fighting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Environmental group raises concerns<\/p>\n The Southern Environmental Law Center issued a statement saying: \u201cWhile xAI claims it is \u2018rapidly removing\u2019 its unpermitted gas turbines in reality the company has been continually expanding adding nine new turbines in July bringing the total to 69.\u201d<\/p>\n