# Elon Musk says he built xAI's Memphis data center from basics

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/news/elon-musk-says-he-built-xais-memphis-data-center-from-basics/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

[News](https://realalpha.app/news/) · Lightcone

By [Rushabh Sheth](https://realalpha.app/news/authors/rushabh-sheth/) Oct. 25, 2026, 8:47 a.m. ET

Elon Musk runs SpaceX and Tesla and founded the AI company xAI. He said on the podcast Lightcone how he built an AI data center in Memphis. He did it by breaking the job into its basic parts. The episode was posted June 19, 2025.

This matters to anyone who lives near one of these buildings. A data center is a building full of computers, and Musk said this one needed 150 megawatts of power. Where the next one goes and what it demands can affect a whole town.

Musk said suppliers told xAI that 100,000 of the chips AI runs on would take 18 to 24 months. He wanted it done in six. So his team found an unused factory, rented generators and cooling, and added Tesla Megapacks to smooth out power swings. He said he slept in the data center and did cabling himself. He used rockets as another example.

He said the raw materials are "only maybe one or two percent of the historical cost of a rocket." That line starts at 27:21.

[The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/video/what-i-saw-outside-elon-musks-massive-colossus-2-data-center/F51AF624-F61D-41BA-BAB7-609A4A182189) published "What I Saw Outside Elon Musk's Massive Colossus 2 Data Center" on Oct. 24, 2026. Its reporter Christopher Mims visited a big revenue-generating SpaceX data center outside Memphis. He talked to a local activist about the community's concerns.

Musk spoke about speed and engineering, not about how neighbors felt. He also said his team was about to bring 110,000 GB200s online at a second data center in the Memphis area. Those are newer chips. His companies build and use these data centers, so they have a stake in how the concerns are settled.

Watch the 6 minutes where he walks through how he did it. [25:44](https://realalpha.app/v/cFIlta1GkiE/?t=1544)

## Sources

- The moment: [Elon Musk: Digital Superintelligence, Multiplanetary Life, How to Be Useful](https://realalpha.app/s/first-principles-reasoning-can-expose-hidden-cost-reductions/?t=1641), Lightcone, June 19, 2025, from 25:44 to 32:04
- The story: [What I Saw Outside Elon Musk’s Massive Colossus 2 Data Center](https://www.wsj.com/video/what-i-saw-outside-elon-musks-massive-colossus-2-data-center/F51AF624-F61D-41BA-BAB7-609A4A182189), The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 24, 2026

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