xAI seeks city property for water recycling facility
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — xAI has offered to purchase about 13 acres of city property to build a wastewater recycling facility to cool the company's Colossus supercomputer in southwest Memphis.
The property, part of a city wastewater plant, is appraised at $820,000, city officials said. Public Works has accepted the company's purchase offer and asked for City Council approval during a committee hearing on Tuesday.
Engineer Mark Carroll, the designer and operator of the recycling plant, said the facility will divert about 20% of the wastewater from the plant, clean it, and then send it both to xAI and the nearby TVA and Nucor facilities.
xAI expanding Memphis supercomputer; Nvidia, Dell and more tech coming to city, Chamber says
The project, which could go online as soon as next summer, would reduce the draw on the Memphis Sand aquifer by about 9%, and produce no pollution while reducing wastewater discharged in the Mississippi River, Carroll said.
It would be the largest facility of its kind in the world.
'I have a vested interest in this being a jewel for the city of Memphis,' Carroll said. 'This will be, frankly, something really cool.'
Bobby White with the Greater Memphis Chamber, said the wastewater recycling facility was an investment in the city, paid for by xAI, that would help protect the aquifer.
But City Council member Yolanda Cooper-Sutton said residents near the xAI facility are concerned and scared of its environmental implications, and the lack of communication from the company. She said the company wasn't welcome here.
'This is not good for us. This is not good for the city,' she said. 'You're gonna regret the day that you ever allowed something to move so quickly in such a precious city.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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