“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” — Maya Angelou
Here we are, less than 90 days away from a nation-defining election, and the world’s richest man is showing us who he is, every single day. I’m speaking about Elon Musk, the South African mega-billionaire behind Tesla cars, SpaceX rocketry, and xAI, the world’s largest supercomputer, now operating in Memphis.
Musk also runs X, formerly Twitter, the world’s biggest news and chat app, and herein lies a problem. I’m still using X, sometimes against my better judgment, given the amount of racist, misogynist, and white supremacist content that streams from the site. I delete and block posts (and posters) every single day, but there’s always a steady torrent of horrible content, much of it generated by bots and AI.
So why am I still on X? Because it’s still the best place for an information junkie like me to get breaking news. I follow all the major news outlets’ X accounts, plus a couple thousand journalists and writers whose views and reporting I respect, as well as lots of local folks with smart (and often funny) takes on Memphis politics, sports, food, and entertainment. Still, it’s a flood of information, much of it worthless or worse, and you have to be diligent in mining the diamonds from the dreck.
Even when X was Twitter, before Musk bought it for a sweet $44 billion and changed the name, it had lots of crap posts, but the policing of intentional disinformation and vile Nazi-ish stuff was better, and it was usually taken down quickly. Now, not so much. That’s mainly because Musk has taken a hands-on approach to the site, and under the guise of “free speech,” he is consciously permitting, and even encouraging, posts that traffic from the far fringes of the right-wing, white supremacist world.
And it’s not like he’s hiding his intentions. He’s got 194 million followers! (When you join X, you get Musk’s posts and reposts automatically, unless you intentionally unfollow him.) His personal account is a fount of racism, misleading statistics, and outright lies. Often, Musk posts an obviously racist meme and asks — a la Tucker Carlson — “Is this true? Just asking.”
Musk is a Trump supporter, of course. He often reposts anti-Kamala Harris tropes, including those that are obviously false or misleading. On Monday, he hosted Trump for a two-hour “interview” on X, during which Musk lavished praise and admiration for Trump’s “honesty,” among other insane comments. Musk’s politics would be anathema to most of the residents of this decidedly blue city, I suspect, but make no mistake, Musk is here, and in a big way. Needless to say, I’m not a fan, either. He seems weirdly and dangerously unbalanced.
And speaking of fans (and clumsy segues), Musk is now running a bunch of non-permitted gas turbines to power his Memphis supercomputer from its site in South Memphis. They are noisy and are sending gassy fumes into the atmosphere 24 hours a day. I urge you to read Sam Hardiman’s well-reported Daily Memphian story from last Saturday.
Citing a “source close to the company … who is not authorized to speak publicly,” the DM said xAI had determined it had the right to run the non-permitted turbines for 364 days. The DM story also quoted the Greater Memphis Chamber on the matter: “XAI obtained official guidance that based on federal, state, and local regulations that permitting would not be required for this temporary solution to use turbines for testing its supercomputer.” How nice. Let’s hope this deal works out for the benefit of the city, and not just for xAI. I have my doubts. Musk is just not a Memphis kind of guy. He’s a Trump kind of guy, with similar baggage.
Need more proof? Consider this recent Musk repost from Daniel Concannon, the self-titled “World’s Most Unbearably White Man”: “White people have been taught that white people are evil and everyone else is good. Non-white people have been taught that white people are evil and everyone else is good. That’s not divide and conquer. That’s ‘Kill Whitey.’” Musk added a single comment: “True.”
Elon Musk is showing us who he is, folks. It would behoove Memphis — and the rest of the world — to believe him.
Elon Musk. Photo by Trevor Cokley / Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Memphis environmental groups urged officials to deny an electricity deal for xAI, demanded a public review of the project, and said Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) ratepayers could subsidize some large portions of the infrastructure deal.
Details on the deal that brought the Elon-Musk-founded company to locate its artificial intelligence hub — called the Gigafactory of Compute — to Memphis remain few, even almost two months after its announcement.
A Tuesday letter from the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) outlined those knowledge gaps, showed confusion and ignorance on the deal by local leaders, said the facility would cause environmental harm to those in South Memphis, and that MLGW CEO Doug McGowen may have overstepped the boundaries of his position in approving the deal.
The letter was written and sent by the SELC on behalf of the Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP), Young, Gifted & Green, Sierra Club Tennessee Chapter, and the Sierra Club Chickasaw Group. SELC said, “many of these members will be directly affected by xAI’s operation and its harmful local consequences.”
The letter was sent to the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). SELC said MLGW is requesting TVA to provide xAI 150 megawatts of power. In the letter, SELC argues TVA’s Memphis system is not reliable enough to handle that much new consumption. Also, it said, a deal for the much energy needs more local approvals.
The 150 megawatt demand is enough to power 100,000 homes.
Southern Environmental Law Center
“The xAI facility is demanding a jaw-dropping 150 MW of firm power by the end of 2024,” reads the letter. “To put that demand in perspective, 150 MW is enough electricity to power 100,000 homes. The xAI facility would become MLGW’s largest electricity customer, siphoning five percent of MLGW’s total daily load to power its operations.”
On reliability, the group said that TVA admitted in October that it did not have enough generating and transmission power in the area even before xAI cam knocking. Back then, TVA proposed a new natural-gas-powered generation project here. The project was necessary to “improve the stability of its transmission system in the western portion of Tennessee. In this area, additional resources are needed to ensure that adequate transmission voltages are maintained within the desired limits,” SELC said, citing TVA’s report.
“Overcommitting to industrial load, as MLGW and xAI have requested, could have serious and even life-threatening consequences for residential customers in Memphis.
Southern Environmental Law Center
“In other words, TVA had already identified a reliability concern in the Memphis-area grid, even before factoring in xAI’s load,” SELC said. “Overcommitting to industrial load, as MLGW and xAI have requested, could have serious and even life-threatening consequences for residential customers in Memphis, contrary to the purpose of the TVA Act and the board policy. When TVA cannot meet peak demand, families go without power during increasingly severe hot and cold weather.”
Further, TVA’s gas-powered plants here are cooled with water from the Memphis Sand Aquifer. Higher strains on those plants — like during winter-weather events here in 2022 and 2021 — caused a serious draw on the aquifer and threaten well fields ”that provide drinking water for predominantly Black, low-income South Memphis communities.”
For these reasons and more, the group urged TVA board members to study the impacts of xAI’s supercomputer before agreeing to serve the facility. That study should include impacts to air pollution, climate change, water quality, water quantity and access, environmental justice, and transportation, SELC said.
“It cannot reasonably be disputed that xAI will require TVA to generate additional electricity and add capacity to the system,” the letter said. “TVA must disclose how it proposes to provide power to xAI, analyze alternatives, and study of the same categories of impacts identified in [the proposal for the new gas plant here] before committing to provide power to xAI.”
SELC also argues that the request to serve xAI is premature “because MLGW has not obtained approval from the MLGW Board or [the Memphis City Council] to spend millions of dollars of ratepayer money to subsidize xAI.” MLGW leaders told council members earlier this month that it would pay for $760,000 worth of substation upgrades for the project. Also, the utility will provide xAI a “marginal allowance” to recoup some of the $24 million it will spent o build a new, $24 million substation, meaning a big break on the company’s power bill.
”Thus, according to MLGW’s presentation [to the council], it seems that over the next few years, ordinary MLGW ratepayers will be subsidizing millions of dollars in infrastructure investments required to serve xAI, both directly and through bill credits to xAI,” the letter said.
Despite this “apparent massive commitment of ratepayer funds to subsidize xAI’s infrastructure needs,” neither the council nor the MLGW board was aware of the xAI project until it was announced on June 5,” SELC said.
Further, the group said MLGW board members weren’t even aware of MLGW’s request to serve xAI with more power from the TVA as late as two weeks ago. For proof, SELC cited an MLGW board meeting on July 17 in which MLGW board member Mitch Graves said, “On the xAI stuff…I wasn’t aware…that TVA’s got to approve something… hadn’t heard that anywhere…what is that they need to approve?”
“On the xAI stuff…I wasn’t aware…that TVA’s got to approve something… hadn’t heard that anywhere…what is that they need to approve?”
SELC citing MLGW board member Mitch Graves
SELC said McGowen negotiated this deal with xAI without oversight from his board or the city council. Doing so, the group said, is a violation of the charters of the council and the board.
”Proper review by the MLGW board and city council is essential because MLGW faces significant operational constraints that directly affect the Memphis coalition’s members’ access to electricity,” the letter said. ”MLGW must give the MLGW board and city council their charter-given right to evaluate whether it is in the best interest of MLGW ratepayers to subsidize millions of dollars of infrastructure investment in xAI over the next two years, while at the same time struggling to keep the lights on and provide accurate billing statements to residential customers.
”The TVA board should not consider the pending request until MLGW obtains required local approvals.”
Elon Musk. Photo by Trevor Cokley / Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
(This story was originally published by The Institute for Public Service Reporting Memphis.)
Is Memphis moving too fast in its negotiations with Elon Musk?
The question troubles environmentalists like Sarah Houston as Musk fast-tracks plans to open an energy-intensive xAI supercomputer here later this summer.
“Data centers like this come with a lot of questions,’’ said Houston, executive director of the nonprofit group Protect Our Aquifer. Houston and others are concerned about xAI’s impact on Memphis’ resources.
The artificial intelligence plant already under development in southwest Memphis will require enough electricity to power 100,000 homes and consume up to 1.5 million gallons of water a day to cool equipment.
Negotiations between Musk, the Greater Memphis Chamber, and city-owned Memphis Light, Gas & Water have moved swiftly and behind closed doors since the tech billionaire and his team first approached local officials in March.
Supporters view xAI as a catalyst for Memphis to become a technology hub that could infuse hundreds of new jobs and millions of investment dollars into the local economy. That includes the potential for other Musk-owned businesses to set up shop here.
But a litany of questions has unfolded about xAI’s energy use and environmental impact since negotiations became public last month. In response, Musk’s swiftly evolving plans have incorporated measures to allay those concerns.
Among them is a plan to build a 150-megawatt substation to reduce the chance of any future power brownouts or blackouts. Talks also are underway to build a gray water facility that would use treated wastewater rather than precious drinking water to cool xAI’s equipment.
Still, critics say the discussions spearheaded by the chamber and MLGW are proceeding with too little public input.
“This is a terrible idea for Memphis. MLGW’s CEO is not elected, and neither is anybody in the Chamber of Commerce last time I checked,” said state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, whose district includes the industrial swath of land where xAI is located. “It’d be really wonderful if people who are unelected did start to talk to people who are elected to represent the communities that they’re seeking to do business in, because they would have heard from our community that we don’t want this.”
Environmentalists urge caution. They point to Texas, where two Musk-founded companies received wide criticism in 2022 for proposing to dump treated wastewater into Texas’ Colorado River.
“It’s just like, they need to be forced to do the right thing,’’ said Chap Ambrose, a Texas computer programmer and environmental activist who lives next door to two Musk-owned companies, SpaceX and Boring.
Knoxville-based activist Stephen Smith, who is no fan of Musk, says he sees a huge opportunity for Memphis if it takes the time to carefully structure this deal. That includes holding Musk, best known for development of Tesla electric vehicles and rocket manufacturer SpaceX, accountable to the public.
“The negatives could very well turn into positives,’’ said Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Water concerns
Water falling at Sheahan Water Pumping Station in December 2023. (Karen Pulfer Focht)
The announcement of xAi immediately triggered concerns about Memphis’ drinking water — sourced directly from the Memphis Sand Aquifer, which contains some 57 trillion gallons of millennia old, pristine water, a point of civic pride and the envy of many other cities.
There’s little chance of depleting that.
Even if xAI requires 1.5 million gallons of water a day — MLGW’s highest estimate —that would add only 1% to the city’s total daily draw on the aquifer.
“I’m not concerned with the quantity, I’m concerned with the quality,’’ said Daniel Larson, director of the University of Memphis’ Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research or CAESER.
Larson and others say a more realistic concern is that xAI’s demand for water could accelerate contamination of the Memphis Sand Aquifer.
The proposed xAI center would draw water from the Davis Wellfield in southwest Memphis, an industrial area that includes TVA’s Allen power plant and the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
CAESER studies have found large quantities of arsenic in the shallow aquifer above the Davis Wellfield. Studies also have identified cracks or breaches in the thick layer of clay separating the shallow and larger Memphis Sand aquifers.
“With an increased demand of one million or 1.3 million gallons of draw down, the question becomes what happens to the known contaminates just above our drinking water, like arsenic?’’ said Protect Our Aquifer’s Houston.
The greater risk of contamination could be alleviated by development of a gray water system that would use treated wastewater, rather than water from the aquifer, to cool xAI’s equipment.
MLGW is developing plans to build a gray water treatment facility to serve xAI and other industrial customers. Musk and his team are considering building their own gray water system, possibly by January, according to The Daily Memphian.
Amanda Garcia, a lead attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, remains skeptical. “I’m concerned about a lack of commitment on the part of xAI in their use of reclaimed water,” she said. “We’ve seen other industrial users come in and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to use reclaimed water,’ and then back out of that commitment.”
Deficient Community Outreach
The former Electrolux plant at 3231 Paul R. Lowry Road where Musk is developing his xAI “gigafactory of compute”. (Karen Pulfer Focht)
Garcia’s concerns highlight a disconnect between xAI and the larger Memphis public. Companies that move to Memphis often forgo direct communication with neighborhoods surrounding their operations, and xAI is no exception.
To date, representatives with xAI have not held any townhall-style meetings with their neighboring communities. Media also cannot reach xAI directly. The company told the Memphis Chamber of Commerce that reporters can post their questions on X.
No representative responded to the Institute for Public Service’s questions posted on the public social media platform.
The lack of direct access means Memphians must learn about xAI through MLGW updates or an anonymous source that works exclusively with The Daily Memphian, which posts many of their xAI updates behind a paywall.
Houston said it would be up to organizations like Protect Our Aquifer to sustain pressure on xAI and Memphis officials to “keep the community informed and engaged on how we can truly ensure that this company follows through on a lot of really great things they said in the media. Because that’s not the track record the ownership (of xAI) has shown in the past.”
State Rep. Justin J. Pearson in southwest Memphis in March 2023. (Karen Pulfer Focht)
State representative Pearson says Musk can’t be trusted. He’s equally skeptical of local decision-makers securing the xAI deal, saying they haven’t given residents of Southwest Memphis — an area already disproportionately burdened by industrial pollutants — much thought.
“Our resources are continuously extracted for the benefit of companies. And our community is not feeling any of those benefits,” Pearson said.
Checkered record
Critics’ concerns include the checkered environmental history of Musk companies in other parts of the country.
Business Insider reported earlier this year that Tesla’s “gigafactory” in Austin took advantage of a new Texas law that allowed the company to exempt itself from the city’s environmental regulations. While Musk promised an “ecological paradise” when Tesla first moved to town, the company appears to be free to skirt regulations meant to ensure one.
Two other Musk-founded companies received an outpouring of criticism last year for attempting to dump treated wastewater into Texas’ Colorado River, which flows southeast through the state, into the Gulf of Mexico, and is separate from the Colorado River that drains the southwestern United States.
When Chap Ambrose, a computer programmer, watched The Boring Company slowly come to life in the cow pasture across the way from his house in the rural countryside east of Austin, he was initially excited.
He was a fan of Musk. He signed up for the yet-to-be released Cyber Truck and subscribed to the Musk-founded Starlink internet service. That was in 2021.
Today, Ambrose serves as an informal watchdog over The Boring Company. The company specializes in building underground tunnel infrastructure meant to alleviate surface-level traffic, among other functions.
Ambrose and some of his neighbors took issue with The Boring Company and another nearby, Musk-founded company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., attempting to dump treated wastewater in the Texas Colorado River.
The Boring Company had applied for a permit to treat wastewater and release it onto its land or into the river, the Washington Post reported. The firm planned to build its own wastewater treatment plant without connecting to a treatment system run by the nearby city of Bastrop, The Post reported. Under public pressure it reportedly later dropped the plan and agreed to connect to the city system.
Monitoring the two companies is tedious, Ambrose said. “(It) continues to be an exercise of documenting and learning how these things work and how the regulations are split up across half a dozen different agencies. [You learn] who you have to talk to, where and what they care about, and what other people care about,” he said.
Following a series of complaints, the company received its first fine earlier this year from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, just under $12,000 for ineffective erosion control at construction sites and illegal dumping of storm water.
Ambrose’s advice for Memphians concerned about xAI’s potential impacts in Southwest Memphis is simple.
“Learn what will be cheap and easy for xAI, and what regulations stand in the way,” said Ambrose. “That will give you a start.”
Megapacks
Doug McGowen, president and CEO of MLGW, told members of the Memphis City Council on July 9 that xAI plans to build a 150 megawatt substation.
McGowen’s update included another way that xAI would impact Memphis’ occasionally strained power grid: Megapacks — a proprietary development by Tesla. Megapacks are shipping container-sized battery packs.
The Tesla dealership on Germantown Parkway near Wolfchase Galleria (Marc Perrusquia)
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s Smith said the use of Megapacks would ease concerns about the need for brownouts.
“With the battery packs, they have developed this software that seamlessly integrates into the electric grid. You can charge those battery packs up at night or off-peak times, and then you can deploy them over an extended period of time during peak,” Smith said.
Megapacks could significantly reduce the strain on MLGW’s system during times of peak demand. And, from Smith’s view, a commitment from xAI to enhance the power grid’s capabilities could ultimately help MLGW break up with the Tennessee Valley Authority, which would be the biggest benefit possible with xAI, he said.
For myriad reasons, Smith has long advocated for MLGW to leave TVA. TVA produces the electricity that MLGW buys and distributes. Smith says TVA is the biggest obstacle to investing in renewable sources of energy in the southeast region.
“xAI has the potential to breakthrough a lot of antiquated thinking,’’ Smith said.
“If the mayor, if Doug McGowen, if city council say, ‘Welcome to our community. Yes, we want you to figure out a way for it to work for both on the water and the energy side and be a sustainable leader. But we also want to partner with you to think bigger about what is possible in Memphis.’”
On July 22, Musk posted on X the xAI supercomputer powered up, and training with supporting employees had begun.
So, I go on vacation for two weeks and Memphis lands a deal with Elon Musk — “the world’s richest man” — to build the largest supercomputer in the world in the former Electrolux plant. What?
From a BnB in upstate New York last week, I read a well-reported (if slightly breathless) story in the Daily Memphian, wherein reporter Sophia Surrett told the behind-the-scenes chronicle of how the Greater Memphis Chamber, led by CEO Ted Townsend, managed to convince Musk to bring his multi-billion-dollar project to the Bluff City. Selling points included our city’s ample water supply, cheap land costs, and the chamber’s willingness to work fast. Memphis was pitched in a zoom meeting with Musk and his associates in March, while Townsend was in Austin for SXSW. Musk apparently liked what he heard and over the next three months, the deal was consummated.
If things go according to plan, the former Electrolux facility will soon house a tech startup called xAI and will, according to an unnamed source in the Daily Memphian story, create “less than 200 jobs.” It will use approximately 1 million gallons of water per day, about 1 percent of the city’s current daily use. In addition, xAI will need up to 150 megawatts of electricity to run the facility — enough energy to power 100,000 homes.
Local environmental groups, including Protect Our Aquifer, issued a cautionary statement: “Before we welcome xAI with open arms, we must consider how an industry using such a tremendous amount of electricity will further impact communities already overwhelmed with pollution and a high energy burden, such as those around the xAI facility in Southwest Memphis. … Will xAI bear the cost of TVA’s fuel adjustment fee in times of high energy demand? … With our recent history of severe weather events and rolling blackouts, TVA and Memphis Light, Gas & Water must work closely with this facility to keep energy use off peak-demand hours. … During times of emergency, our utility providers must have a plan to ensure that residents receive the power and water they need ahead of corporate demand.”
Good points, all. There is some talk that xAI will get involved in building a system that will use wastewater or river water to handle its cooling needs, but it’s just talk at this point. However it goes, this appears to be a big deal. And Musk is a big deal, a guy who sends Space X rockets and Starlink satellites into space, builds futuristic Tesla cars (and goofy trucks), and owns X (formerly Twitter), the world’s largest news and social-messaging platform.
But that raises — or should — another concern: Musk, who says that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, has configured X’s algorithm to ensure that his voice is the most prominent on the platform, meaning he has 187 million followers who can see his posts. He is a mega-influencer.
He’s also an anti-vaxxer who recently posted a photo of Dr. Anthony Fauci under the caption: “You’re all beagles to me. Crimes Against Humanity.” Additionally, Musk is anti-trans, anti-DEI, pro-Trump, pro-Tucker Carlson, anti-Ukraine, pro-Russia, and has retweeted the “scientific” graphs of @eyeslasho, which claim to prove that “Black people in the US are overwhelmingly more criminally violent than whites.” Not a great look for a CEO looking to set up in a majority Black city. Musk has also retweeted some blatantly anti-semitic X posts. A real peach, this guy.
To put this in some sort of context, however strained, there is little doubt that other business and corporate leaders — in Memphis and elsewhere — share some of Musk’s beliefs and politics. The general attitude of those looking to expand their city’s economic base, i.e. political leaders and business types like those in the Greater Chamber, is to downplay (or ignore) such things as long as the greater good — jobs, investment, and a bump for the city’s reputation — is achieved. CEOs gonna CEO, the thinking goes.
By that measure, it appears that Memphis has landed a big fish, one that will maybe bring a few more fish in its wake and provide more good-paying jobs than the 200 initially surmised. But the bottom line on the xAI deal is yet to be determined. And how — or if — this transaction will benefit the Memphis economy or the average Memphian is unknown. Musk is a wild card, given to mercurial, offensive, and impulsive moves. Call him the X factor.
Elon Musk. Photo by Trevor Cokley / Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Memphians still don’t have many details on xAI’s massive supercomputer project planned for Memphis, though a recent $700 million data center deal for X in Atlanta may offer some clues.
What we don’t know is:
• How much will the company actually invest here? (It’s been touted as “multibillion” and the “largest single capital investment in Memphis history.”)
• What exactly will the so-called Gigafactory of Compute do? (It’s proposed to power X’s Grok artificial intelligence. But how that will happen in Memphis remains hazy.)
• How many employees and new jobs will the project bring to Memphis? (Speculation says about 200 hundred jobs. But no one in the public is yet certain.)
• What will the real economic impact of the project be for Memphis?
• What will local leaders offer to the company in incentives to bring them here?
Many of the questions were slated to be answered next week. The project was supposed to go before the Memphis-Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) on Wednesday, June 19. Officials cancelled that meeting in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. So, locals could be left waiting for a month for answers on xAI, unless EDGE calls a special meeting.
In the meantime, I took a suggestion from someone on the Memphis subreddit. (I couldn’t find the comment or I would’ve given you a shoutout). For what could happen in Memphis, they suggested looking to Atlanta.
Atlanta case study
X Corp. (not xAI) proposed to build a $700 million data center there in December. It already had a data center in the city and another in Portland, according to WSB-TV Atlanta. Incentive packages would decide whether the company brought its big, new project to Portland, Oregon or Atlanta.
“Either location, in addition to similar alternative locations, could serve as the near-term location for this infrastructure investment,” reads the company’s application to Develop Fulton, Atlanta’s EDGE equivalent. “The incentive is a critical part of the analysis and decision process of whether to locate the equipment in Atlanta, Portland, or other locations.”
For the new Atlanta project, the company asked Develop Fulton to approve a $700 million inducement and final bond resolution “to acquire, install and create the next generation of high-performance computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) products for the X platform.” The company also asked for a tax break of more than $10.1 million over 10 years.
Taxes for the project in its first year were promised to be more than $4 million. Taxes over the project’s first 10 years would be more than $16.5 million.
The project would retain 24 jobs in Atlanta, not create new jobs. X Corp. predicted an overall economic impact of the project to be more than $241.7 million in 10 years.
The economic impact figure changed, though, from when X first brought the project to Develop Fulton, according to WSB-TV. The company’s original pitch to the board said the economic impact for the project would be more than $1 billion, way higher than the updated $241.7 million figure:
Credit: Develop Fulton/ X application from DecemberCredit: Develop Fulton/ X application from January
X Corp.’s proposal ended in a deadlock from the Develop Fulton board in December. The vote came after the board “got an earful from opposed residents,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One board member, Laura Kurlander-Nagel, said the X platform’s value dropped by more than half after xAI founder Elon Musk bought it. For her it was a concern and she voted against the project, according to London-based Data Centre Dynamics blog.
The Atlanta site, northwest of Downtown on Jefferson Street, was once proposed for another data center. Kansas-based Quality Technology Services (QTS) wanted to build a center there but asked Develop Fulton for a $45 million tax break over 10 years. The board voted against it, and, apparently, QTS moved on.
However, when the X project came back before Develop Fulton in January, it passed with that $10.1 million tax break included. Two board member voted against it.
Data boom
Data centers are booming in Georgia’s capital city. Atlanta City Council member Jason Dozier said the market is growing faster there than in any other U.S. city. Construction for data centers in Atlanta grew by 211 percent, Dozier said, from 2022 to 2023.
This is partly why he and council member Matt Westmoreland proposed a ban on building them close to transit stations and the Atlanta BeltLine. It was unclear whether the ban had yet passed.
1/ Excited to introduce legislation alongside @WestmorelandATL to address the rapid growth of data centers in Atlanta. Atlanta's data center market is booming faster than any other in the US. From 2022 to 2023, data center projects under construction increased by a whopping 211%. pic.twitter.com/m49mTo44Pv
“Despite their growth, data centers don’t create many local jobs compared to other sectors,” Dozier tweeted in mid-May. “This limits economic benefits for our communities. Their existence presents a trade-off, diverting resources and focus away from alternative, people-oriented development priorities.
Their existence presents a trade-off, diverting resources and focus away from alternative, people-oriented development priorities.
Atlanta City Council member Jason Dozier
“Additionally, the energy demand of these centers is substantial, oftentimes equivalent to an entire natural gas plant’s output, further stressing our fragile electric grid.
“By prohibiting new data centers near transit and the Atlanta BeltLine, we aim to preserve these vital corridors for people-oriented priorities like housing, retail, transportation, and green spaces.
“It’s time to ensure that our city’s growth is sustainable and equitable for all residents. Let’s work together to shape Atlanta’s future in a way that prioritizes the needs of our communities and that benefits all Atlantans.”
But urban Atlantans aren’t the only ones with qualms over data centers in the Peach State. Georgia state lawmakers voted to temporarily suspend a tax break on equipment for data centers, according to the Associated Press. The legislation followed a monthslong review of all of the state’s many tax breaks and incentive programs.
The bill gained traction as Georgia Power reported a massive spike in electricity demand, and the data center industry accounted for 80 percent of that growth, it said. Also, one lawmaker also cited a 2022 state audit report that found that the tax exemption for data centers returned 24 cents on the dollar.
However, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp vetoed the legislation in May. He said the bill’s July 1 deadline would have interrupted “projects that are already in development — undermining the investments made by high-technology data center operators, customers, and other stakeholders in reliance on the recent extension, and inhibiting important infrastructure and job development.”
Sierra Club Georgia Chapter Director G Webber called the move “beyond disappointing.”
“The surge in the demand for power from data centers is propping up old coal plants and causing a rush to build new gas infrastructure,” Webber said in a statement. “As a result, Georgia communities will see higher levels of air and water pollution, and our fight to curb the worst effects of climate change is hampered. Kemp is burying his head in the sand by refusing to address an issue already having such a significant impact on our state.”
The Memphis subreddit buzzed with the Elon news. Opinions were mixed.
User u/ThiccAssCrackHead said, “It means he will be using 1 million gallons of aquifer water per day while only employing 25-45 people that are brought in from out of state. Ask Atlanta how theirs is going.”
U/Delway said, “It’s a start. It will hopefully attract other tech companies with high paying jobs. … fiber optic network infrastructure will be sped up. High paying Jobs to retrofit the facility. Inspire our local youth.”
But one suggestion seems like something we can all agree on. Reddit user u/mylogicistoomuchforu said, “Elon Musk is building a supercomputer in Memphis. We got to call it the ManeFrame.”
Elon Musk. Photo by Trevor Cokley / Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Environmental groups cautioned leaders on the effects — especially on electricity and water use — of the xAI facility announced Wednesday.
The tech company owned by Elon Musk plans to build the world largest supercomputer in Memphis. The announcement drew acclaim from area leaders for its promise of economic development.
Protect Our Aquifer, Memphis Community Against Pollution, and Young Gifted & Green said in a joint statement late Wednesday that, while they are thankful of tech industries’ interest in Memphis, facilities like xAI have environmental consequences.
Cloud-computing facilities like these use a lot of electricity for massive air conditioning units and generators, creating a high carbon footprint, the groups said. The Musk facility is expected to use enough electricity to power 100,000 homes.
“Before we welcome xAI with open arms, we must consider how an industry using such a tremendous amount of electricity will further impact communities already overwhelmed with pollution and a high energy burden, such as those around the xAI facility in Southwest Memphis,” reads the statement. “The energy burden measures how much of a family’s income goes to paying their utility bill. The national average is three percent, but in Memphis, the average is 27 percent. Will xAI bear the cost of TVA’s (Tennessee Valley Authority) fuel adjustment fee in times of high energy demand?
“More so, with our recent history of severe weather events and rolling blackouts, TVA and Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) must work closely with this facility to keep energy use off peak demand hours.”
The facility is also expected to need a million gallons of water each day for its cooling towers, they said. That water would come from the MLGW Davis Wellfield in Southwest Memphis, the groups said. The wellfield is where the Byhalia Connection Pipeline was to split and where levels of arsenic have been detected in shallow groundwater, they said.
“We encourage xAI to support investment in a city of Memphis wastewater reuse system to reduce strain on our water supply and drinking water infrastructure,” the statement said.
The air quality impacts of such a facility are unknown, they said. But they called on the Shelby County Health Department to to measure it and other environmental impacts of the xAI facility.
“Lastly, xAI should immediately consider the inclusion of binding community benefits agreements that enshrine its obligations to the local community, including targeted hiring, apprenticeship programs, and funding for neighborhood revitalization efforts,” the groups said. “We encourage Elon Musk and xAI to build solar for the site and invest in a greywater reuse facility to reduce the strain on the water supply and electric grid along with hiring from low-income and disadvantaged communities to boost the local economy.”
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.”
On Sunday, former President Donald Trump attacked American Jews on his Truth Social platform. His message: Jews in the United States need to “get their act together” and show more appreciation for the state of Israel and Donald Trump “before it is too late.”
That concluding sentence caused a lot of blowback from Jewish groups, who saw Trump’s post as a veiled threat and a thinly disguised message to his MAGA and white supremacist base that Jews were a problem. It was remarks like these that got Trump banned from Twitter and led to his forming Truth Social, where his audience is relatively minuscule but where he can post whatever lies and racist tropes that arise in his addled brain without constraint.
Speaking of addled brains: Earlier in the week, wealthy rapper and confirmed lunatic, Kanye West, offered his own anti-Semitic post on Twitter, stating he was going to “go death con 3 [sic] on JEWISH PEOPLE.” He later posted that George Floyd was not murdered but died of a Fentanyl overdose (a racist trope that was disproved at trial). West was banned from Twitter and restricted on Instagram for his remarks, but he immediately announced that he was going to buy the troubled wanna-be-Twitter social medium, Parler.
Meanwhile, the world’s richest man, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, was nearing a final deal to take over Twitter, the most influential social medium for news and opinion in the world. Musk’s recent remarks on the war in Ukraine make it clear he is a Putin enabler, which could be a problem. Musk has also stated that when he takes over Twitter he will “reduce content moderation” and will allow “all speech that stops short of violating the law,” meaning Trump, Kanye, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other racists currently banned from Twitter would be reinstated and allowed to spew whatever garbage they want, as long as it’s “legal.” And meaning that Truth Social, Parler, and Twitter would all be owned by egocentric billionaires. Good times.
This is nothing new, of course. American mass media has long been dominated by wealthy men who used their influential mass-media platforms to further their own ambitions and political views. In the early 20th century, William Randolph Hearst owned 30 influential newspapers that featured lurid stories on crime, corruption, politics, and sex. Hearst controlled the editorial positions and political news in his papers and is considered to have almost single-handedly influenced the United States to declare war on Spain and invade Cuba in 1898.
Little has changed. Consider Rupert Murdoch (Fox News, Wall Street Journal), Michael Bloomberg (Forbes, Business Week), Jeff Bezos (Washington Post, Amazon), and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta, Facebook, Instagram). Throw in Musk and Twitter, and that’s a lot of influence and power in the hands of five* self-interested billionaires.
Republicans, the majority of whom are now election deniers and Trump enablers, are naturally quite happy about the possibility of these three social mediums being owned by their kind of people. The official GOP House Judiciary Committee tweeted last week: “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” Not subtle, and even more disturbing when you consider that the anti-Semitic garbage Trump and Kanye posted garnered no criticism from any Republican of note.
We are three weeks out from a midterm election that no one seems to have a handle on. The polls are all over the place, with most indicating the Democrats will hold the Senate and lose the House. Still, no one knows, and accurate polling has never been more difficult. When was the last time you answered a call from an unknown number to take a poll? Democrats can take hope from this summer’s landslide pro-choice vote in deep-red Kansas, which the polls missed by double-digit percentage points. Republicans can take hope from the fact that a hypocritical, prevaricating moron like Herschel Walker is polling competitively in the Georgia Senate race, a staggering indictment of the electorate.
In addition to the election drama, Trump is facing multiple indictments in state and federal courts, with the DOJ hovering, waiting for the election to be over before making any moves in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. What we’ve learned after six years of Trump-induced chaos is that democracy is a fragile thing, and that rough water is likely still ahead. Buckle up.
*Editor’s note:In an earlier version of this story, Warren Buffett was listed as one of the billionaire newspaper owners. Buffett divested his newspaper holdings in 2020.
