SpaceXAI powers down 11 of 69 temporary turbines at Southaven facility
SpaceXAI is powering down 11 of 69 temporary turbines at its Southaven, Mississippi, data center following noise complaints and a class-action lawsuit. The company plans to remove all temporary turbines by July 2027 as a new 1.2 GW permanent power plant comes online. SpaceXAI is also investing in sound reduction and emission control technologies to address community concerns.
SpaceXAI, which acquired xAI and operates the Colossus datacenters near the Tennessee-Mississippi state line, announced the powering down of 11 out of 69 temporary turbines at its Southaven facility. This action follows complaints from residents about noise disruption, which led to a class-action lawsuit filed by Jason Haley, Preston Herrington, and Taylor Logsdon in the U.S. District Court for the North District of Mississippi.
The company, formerly known as SpaceX, stated its commitment to removing all temporary, mobile turbines by July 2027. This timeline aligns with an agreed order established with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality in July and coincides with the planned activation of a new 1.2 GW permanent power plant. This permanent plant, slated to come online over the next year, will utilize 41 turbines authorized under a Clean Air Act permit granted in March 2026.
In response to community concerns, SpaceXAI has also invested millions of dollars in noise reduction measures, including sound walls, silencers, and next-generation turbines with advanced quieting technologies. Additionally, the company is equipping all mobile turbines with selective catalytic reduction devices to convert nitrous oxides into nitrogen and water, aiming to reduce environmental impacts. SpaceXAI maintains that current monitoring indicates local air quality meets or exceeds EPA standards. The Colossus site is designed to train large-scale AI models like Grok, with plans for 1 million GPUs.