Here’s what xAI could use 552 acres for
A solar farm on all or part of the acreage would probably generate a maximum of 100 megawatts, likely less. (Jim Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
A solar farm could be coming to a heavily industrialized swath of Southwest Memphis.
Last year, the artificial intelligence company xAI agreed to lease 552 acres from the Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County. For months, it has been unclear what plans xAI had for the land.
The company has built a large data center at the former Electrolux factory on Paul R. Lowry Road. The former factory now houses more than 200,000 semiconductors that power xAI’s chatbot Grok, the company’s competing offer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
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Samuel Hardiman
Samuel Hardiman is an enterprise and investigative reporter who focuses on local government and politics. He began his journalism career at the Tulsa World in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he covered business and, later, K-12 education. Hardiman came to Memphis in 2018 to join the Memphis Business Journal, covering government and economic development. He then served as the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s city hall reporter and later joined The Daily Memphian in 2023. His current work focuses on Elon Musk’s xAI, regional energy needs and how Memphis and Shelby County government spend taxpayer dollars.
Sophia Surrett
Sophia Surrett is a recent University of Alabama graduate, where she received her B.A. in news media and M.A. in journalism and media studies. She covers commercial real estate, economic development, residential real estate, restaurant real estate, and hospitality and tourism.
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