Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is advanced technology that allows machines to perform tasks such as processing information, recognizing patterns, and making decisions.

AI obtains its information through training on extensive data sets from various mediums including: books, websites, social media and other data sources. During operation, AI uses real-time data to continue to update its information and fine-tune its outputs.

xAI is a private company founded by Elon Musk. It is globally recognized as one of the most valuable artificial intelligence companies and is currently valued at $50 billion.

The supercomputer is located at Frank C. Pigeon Industrial Park in Southwest Memphis.

xAI has planted its roots in Memphis and intends to continue to expand their footprint in the city. They want to be recognized as a Memphis-based company and a cornerstone to the city.

xAI will bring over 500 quality, high paying jobs to Memphis in its initial phase with plans to grow more.

xAI chose Memphis because of its reliable power grid, ability to create a wastewater facility, proximity to the Mississippi (River) and ample land. Furthermore, xAI experienced unprecedented effective collaboration from local entities including MLGW, TVA, City of Memphis and Shelby County which demonstrated Memphis’ pro-business climate. xAI benefitted from the Greater Memphis Chamber’s leadership in driving partnership and collaboration with MLGW, TVA, and other critical partners. They chose Memphis because of the speed at which we were able to do business and create impactful solutions.

There are several benefits to xAI being in Memphis. With Colossus being housed here, we are now actively competing in the AI race with major global tech hubs. With the presence of xAI, 500 jobs will be added and their investment in our city will continue to create quality, high paying jobs. It is expected to attract other major AI and technology companies which will further position Memphis as the Digital Delta and grow our local economy.

From the get-go, xAI began working closely with Memphis companies. With xAI’s presence in Memphis, the opportunities are endless. They are helping further the Digital Delta and creating an AI ecosystem that can lead to knowledge sharing and innovation.

xAI is leasing 552 acres of land in Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park. They plan to use this land to expand their footprint in Memphis. Developing the site will be a multi-year project with plans to expand core operations.

Colossus is the most powerful supercomputer in the world hosted in Southwest Memphis. It is also known as the Gigafactory of Compute.  Colossus runs on 100,000 Nvidia H100 chips as of September 3, 2024 and 200,000 as of December 4, 2024. They will add 125,000 H100/H200/GB200 chips and plans to expand to 1 million by 2026.

A supercomputer is a high-speed and high-functioning computer system capable of performing tasks faster than regular computers. Think of it like a brain intaking, processing, and outputting information. A supercomputer can solve complex problems at the speed of light. It’s the smartest, fastest problem-solver in the world.

Once fully operational, Colossus will use 300 megawatts of power.

With a data center, information only goes in. The supercomputer is like a brain where the information goes in and out.

Colossus went live August 8, 2024—just 122 days after the announcement.

Nvidia chips are a graphic-processing unit (GPU) model and are commonly used in the AI and advanced technology industry. 

Grok is xAI’s AI model chatbot. It is housed in the social media platform, X, and is a truth-seeking chatbot with the mission of understanding the universe. The supercomputer is powering Grok.

xAI’s supercomputer, Colossus, is powering Grok and training it, meaning it is continually providing it with information. The information comes from X and other internet sources.

No, xAI is not using water from the aquifer for industrial use. Understanding the importance of the Memphis aquifer, from the start, xAI trucked in water and put it on a closed-loop system. They have plans underway to create the world’s largest ceramic membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater recycling plant which will eliminate the need for pulling from the aquifer for industrial use. Once complete, the wastewater facility will protect an estimated 4.745 billion gallons of our aquifer water.

A wastewater facility is an industrial location where contaminates are removed from wastewater before it is reused for various purposes. xAI is dedicated to sustainability. They will use the wastewater facility to cool the supercomputer. xAI’s wastewater facility will treat and process 13 million gallons of wastewater daily. This facility could also serve as a model for future industrial water management potentially serving other large industrial users like, TVA and Nucor Steel. 

xAI is environmentally conscious. The alternative to using turbines, at this time, is to use the Memphis power grid. They do not want to use our power grid until they can study and understand how the computer draws energy. The temporary use of gas turbines is to ensure that the supercomputer never jeopardizes citizens’ access to power. 

xAI’s supercomputer has a significant power demand. The supercomputer is back up generated by Tesla mega-packs so that they have the ability to be off grid if necessary, in the event of a power strain. xAI, TVA and MLGW are collaborating on additional power solutions to create grid reliability for the entire grid.