Elon Musk-founded xAI will construct the “international’s biggest supercomputer” in Memphis, the Higher Memphis Chamber introduced Wednesday.Chamber President and CEO Ted Townsend stated this undertaking represents a multibillion buck funding and is the biggest by means of a new-to-market corporate in Memphis historical past. Ultimate activity counts and overall funding are nonetheless being calculated by means of the corporate, he stated. The undertaking is predicted to open this 12 months.Few specifics have been supplied in regards to the undertaking, which is known as “xAI’s Gigafactory of Compute,” together with its location. Townsend stated because of international safety considerations, the site would now not be introduced.
On the other hand, the previous Electrolux facility south of President’s Island at 3231 Paul Lowry Highway is the presumed location for the xAI supercomputer. Milwaukee-based actual property corporate Phoenix Traders used to be a number of the entities thanked throughout Wednesday’s announcement. Phoenix Traders bought the 785,000-square-foot Electrolux facility in December 2023 for $35 million.Musk used to be now not amongst the ones readily available for Wednesday’s announcement, which used to be made on the Chamber’s Downtown place of work.What’s Elon Musk’s xAI?What to understand in regards to the new corporate and plans for Memphis supercomputerThe supercomputer undertaking is pending approval by means of the Financial Building Expansion Engine for Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee Valley Authority and different governing government, Townsend stated.“That is nice information for Memphis and the Memphis economic system and can make our area a focal point for the way forward for synthetic intelligence. Mr. Musk’s smart move to find his supercomputer in Memphis can be a boon to our rising tech trade, draw in new companies and create just right jobs,” Congressman Steve Cohen stated.Townsend stated the Chamber met the calls for of xAI and moved at “lightning velocity” to get the deal achieved inside of 90 days.”The Chamber’s financial construction group demonstrated outstanding coordination, hastily offering answers and rallying companions sooner than every other neighborhood,” he stated. “Memphis emerged as a world nexus the place pace meets efficiency, that are horny attributes to the xAI group.”
“We made sure Memphis used to be the corporate’s best choice,” Townsend stated.xAi introduced in July 2023. The corporate’s synthetic intelligence {hardware} Grok-O introduced in August 2023. Grok is xAI’s chatbot and regarded as a rival to ChatGPT.”We’ve got nice companions on the Higher Memphis Chamber and MLGW who have been able to make this occur. We had a great website online, ripe for funding,” Memphis Mayor Paul Younger stated in a commentary. “And we had the facility of our individuals who created new and leading edge processes to stay alongside of the tempo required to land this transformational undertaking.”Neil Strebig is a journalist with The Business Attraction. He can also be reached at neil.strebig@commercialappeal.com, 901-426-0679 or by way of X/Twitter, @neilStrebig.
