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Elon Musk found a home for his artificial intelligence startup’s supercomputer — but now it’s being blamed for making pollution worse in the area.
In June, xAI chose Memphis, Tennessee for its “gigafactory of compute,” after Musk reportedly asked chipmaker Nvidia NVDA to prioritize its shipments of AI chips to xAI and his social media platform X, over his electric vehicle company Tesla TSLA.
However, local advocates are raising concerns over xAI’s use of gas-powered turbines as smog in Memphis exceeds national air quality standards.
In a letter to the Shelby County Health Department this week, the Southern Environmental Law Center says xAI’s supercomputer “requires an enormous amount of electricity,” and that the startup “has installed at least 18 gas combustion turbines over the last several months” to meet that demand, with more possibly coming. Combined, the turbines “have the capacity to emit about 130 tons of the ozone-precursor nitrogen oxides (NOx) per year, ranking the turbines as the 9th largest source of NOx in Shelby County,” according to the SELC. Meanwhile, the startup “apparently has not applied” for the air permits required before installation and operation of some of the turbines, the SELC said.
On behalf of local groups, the environmental nonprofit is asking the health department to confirm if xAI is operating its turbines without an air permit, and to order the startup to stop operating until they get the permit.
“South Memphis has been overburdened by industrial pollution for decades, and turning a blind eye to unpermitted gas turbines at the xAI facility is only going to continue the long legacy of environmental injustice in these predominately Black communities,” Amanda Garcia, senior attorney at the SELC, said in a statement shared with Quartz. “We are urging health officials to investigate these turbines and take necessary action in order to help Memphians breathe easier.”
The Shelby County Health Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. xAI could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, xAI reportedly plans to use power from Memphis Light, Gas and Water and the Tennessee Valley Authority in the long-term, and MLGW told CNBC it is providing the startup with 50 megawatts of power. The data center reportedly needs an additional 100 megawatts.
In May, xAI raised $6 billion in a round counting Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital as investors. The OpenAI competitor has developed its own chatbot, Grok, as a competitor to ChatGPT.