Elon Musk's xAI selects southern city for 'world's largest' supercomputer site

xAI has been operating since July 2023

xAI has its sights set on creating the world’s largest supercomputer and, according to a recent announcement, the Elon Musk-founded artificial intelligence company has selected Memphis for its site.

The Greater Memphis Chamber revealed the southwestern Tennessee city had landed the planned project on Wednesday, saying it will be the "largest capital investment by a new-to-market company in Memphis history." The supercomputer will be called the "Gigafactory of Compute," the group said.

Musk said it's "true" in a reply to an X post that contained footage of the Greater Memphis Chamber’s press conference announcing plans for Memphis to get the supercomputer.

The xAI logo is seen on a mobile device

xAI is looking to build its supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee. (Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto / File / Getty Images)

The Memphis and Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine, Tennessee Valley Authority and others must still sign off on the project, according to the Greater Memphis Chamber.

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The AI firm "expects to create high quality jobs upon completion of Phase 1, with opportunities for more substantial investment in future phases," the nonprofit group said.

Memphis

xAI is looking to build its supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee. (Dukas / Christian Heeb / Universal Images Group / File / Getty Images)

"Memphis is a city of innovators, so it’s no surprise that it feels like home to those looking to change the world," Memphis Mayor Paul Young was quoted as saying. "We have great partners at the Greater Memphis Chamber and MLGW who were ready to make this happen. We had an ideal site, ripe for investment. And we had the power of our people who created new and innovative processes to keep up with the pace required to land this transformational project."

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Politicians representing the area, like House Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen and GOP Rep. David Kustoff, lauded the news about Musk’s AI company and Memphis.  

xAI Elon Musk

Elon Musk debuted xAI last year. (Hakan Nural / Anadolu Agency / File / Getty Images)

xAI has officially been up and running since July 2023, when the tech billionaire who also leads Tesla and SpaceX debuted it. The company, which developed social media platform X’s AI chatbot Grok, seeks to "understand the true nature of the universe."

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Late last month, as it disclosed a $6 billion Series B funding haul, xAI said announcements about "multiple exciting technology updates and products" were in the pipeline.