Elon Musk is coming to Memphis and bringing the AI revolution with him.
Musk, who is CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and runs several other companies, is opening a major facility in Memphis that will be the heart of his X.AI Corp (xAI). The Greater Memphis Chamber, which hosted the announcement Wednesday, said it represents the largest single private sector investment in Memphis’ history.
The company was founded in March 2023 and is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. While there are several companies exploring the world of artificial intelligence, Musk is bringing his own vision to what it can and should be, which in the broadest sense is “to understand the true nature of the universe.”
As the billionaire entrepreneur told the Greater Memphis Chamber, “My vision is to build the world’s largest and most powerful supercomputer, and I’m willing to put it in Memphis.”
Ted Townsend, president and CEO of the Chamber, said the organization was contacted about three months ago of the company’s interest in locating in Memphis. Prior to that, Phoenix Investment Group of Milwaukee acquired a 200-acre property, plus a 600-acre parcel.
It was Phoenix that provided the connection to xAI, which was interested in the property. Top executives in Musk’s organization wanted to meet right away with the Chamber as well as Doug McGowen, president and CEO of Memphis Light, Gas and Water. It went well.
The deal was not a deal yet, but the interest was clear. There were more meetings in rapid succession with the idea of firming it up and announcing by June.
Locating the xAI operation here also means associated enterprises will be along for the ride. The facility will need computer chips and servers and skilled, high-tech labor.
“Memphis is positioned to extract the benefit of their presence here, and the enormity of capital investment being deployed here, and the direct and indirect and induced impact from an economic development perspective is truly transforming,” Townsend said.
The Securities Exchange Commission reported in December that xAI had raised $134.7 million in outside funding. Last month, the company announced a funding round of $6 billion from key investors.
xAI has already developed Grok, a series of models that have been frequently updated since the initial release last August. Grok-1.5 is available to premium users of X (formerly Twitter).
Musk has long been a fan of science fiction, particularly the works of Douglas Adams, who famously wrote the series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. One of the six volumes in the series is “Life, the Universe and Everything,” which is referenced on xAI’s home page with the slogan “Discover the answers to life, the universe, everything.”
