Elon Musk may have found a home for xAI’s supercomputer.
The Musk-founded AI business is working with Memphis to make the Tennessee city the lead location of the world’s largest supercomputer, referred to as the Gigafactory of Compute, according to a statement from the Greater Memphis Chamber on Wednesday.
The multibillion-dollar supercomputer would reportedly be powered by Nvidia’s H100 GPUs, some of the most sought-after chips that power AI. The project could create hundreds of jobs, according to a report from the Memphis Business Journal.
“We had an ideal site, ripe for investment,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young said in the statement. “And we had the power of our people who created new and innovative processes to keep up with the pace required to land this transformational project.”
However, the partnership isn’t fully official yet, with the project pending approval by the Memphis Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine, Tennessee Valley Authority, and governing authorities.
Still, if approved, the project will represent the largest investment in the city’s history.
Ted Townsend, President & CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber, told Business Insider there isn’t a specific timeline yet, but xAI is moving at a “very aggressive” pace to reach their deadlines. Musk previously told xAI investors that he wants the supercomputer online by fall 2025.
“The focus is, and it will remain, to get this thing operating,” Townsend said to BI.
Greater Memphis Chamber became involved with the process about 90 days ago, which Townsend said was recent, considering when xAI started looking.
The plan is for the company to occupy a former manufacturing facility, which may be the Electrolux Memphis facility, according to a report from the Memphis Business Journal. Townsend said he could not confirm the location for security reasons.
Details emerged just after news broke about Musk sending Nvidia chips meant for Tesla to X instead. The billionaire — who owns X and founded and runs Tesla — responded by saying Tesla had no place to send the pricey semiconductors, so they would have sat unused in a warehouse. Delaying the GPUs could set back Tesla’s own supercomputer development.
Meanwhile, xAI announced just over a week ago that it raised $6 billion in its Series B funding round. The funding included $750 million which Musk personally invested and $250 million worth of computing power from X, according to The Wall Street Journal.
xAI did not respond to a request for comment from BI.
