Musk's Memphis HQ Sparks Concerns Amid Colossus Expansion
Elon Musk has taken up residence in an Airstream trailer in Memphis to oversee the expansion of SpaceXAI's supercomputer complex, Colossus. This sprawling facility is a major player in the 'neocloud' market, renting out cutting-edge AI compute capacity to companies that need it but can't build it fast enough themselves.
The Colossus complex has scaled to roughly 1 GW of AI compute capacity by mid-2026 and includes multiple facilities: Colossus 1, Colossus 2 (also called Macrohard), Minihard, and several supporting structures. External clients like Anthropic and Google have secured rental agreements worth up to $1.25 billion per month and approximately $920 million monthly, respectively.
SpaceXAI's solution to powering the gigawatt-scale computing operation has been deploying temporary natural gas turbines while permanent infrastructure catches up. However, this approach has not been popular with the local community, raising concerns about air quality and permitting disputes. SpaceXAI has committed to removing all 69 temporary turbines by July 2027.