Elon Musk’s AI company xAI is planning to build the world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, marking the largest capital investment by a new-to-market company in the city’s history, an announcement from the Greater Memphis Chamber said.
According to a news release, xAI’s “Gigafactory of Compute” supercomputer system will occupy a former manufacturing facility. The project is pending approval by the Memphis Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE), Tennessee Valley Authority and other government agencies.
“Our Chamber is built for this,” Ted Townsend, president & CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber, said in a public statement. “In less than three weeks, the Chamber’s economic development team demonstrated remarkable coordination, swiftly providing solutions and rallying partners faster than any other community. From the initial three weeks until today, Memphis emerged as a global nexus where velocity meets potency, which are attractive attributes to the xAI team.”
The announcement follows recent efforts in Memphis to connect employers to education and workforce development initiatives, with a specific focus on attracting industries relating to emerging tech fields like artificial intelligence and autonomous technologies. Among these efforts, the Chamber launched an online tool that provides a variety of employment and education data employers can use to decide whether to do business in Memphis. The data includes information on the existing jobs in the region for various occupations, the number of graduates receiving an industry certificate or a degree, and an interactive map to help employers visualize where universities, colleges, and vocational and technical schools are located.
“Memphis is a city of innovators, so it’s no surprise that it feels like home to those looking to change the world,” said Memphis Mayor Paul Young. “We get things done here. We have great partners at the Greater Memphis Chamber and MLGW who were ready to make this happen. We had an ideal site, ripe for investment. 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.”
Several local and state policymakers, including Memphis-Shelby County School Board Member Amber Huett-Garcia, celebrated the decision on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Huge news and economic development win for Memphis!” she wrote about the announcement.
State Senator Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, said the project is poised to transform Memphis into a hub for technological innovation.
“The stage is set for Memphis to become the world leader in artificial intelligence and computing. It’s really impossible to overstate the economic and technological impact of developing the largest supercomputer in the world — right here in Memphis. Grind City is on the verge of adding a new nickname: the Supercomputer City,” said Akbari.
