
Elon Musk Touts xAI's Colossus 2 As First Gigawatt AI Supercluster Powered By 168 Tesla Megapacks Amid AGI Push

Elon Musk announced that xAI's Colossus 2 will be the first Gigawatt AI supercluster, powered by 168 Tesla Megapacks. This facility in Memphis aims to train large-scale AI models and is designed for high efficiency and sustainability. Despite environmental concerns, the Greater Memphis Chamber confirmed the project's progress. Colossus 2 is crucial for Musk's AGI ambitions, competing with firms like OpenAI. xAI recently raised $6 billion to enhance its supercomputer capabilities, with its AI chatbot Grok gaining popularity in the App Store.
Elon Musk recently emphasized that Colossus 2 will be the first Gigawatt artificial intelligence training supercluster, highlighting xAI's growing infrastructure ambitions as he reshared a post detailing the deployment of 168 Tesla Inc. TSLA Megapacks to power the new data center.
What Happened: Musk reposted an update from Tesla Owners Silicon Valley on his X account, which noted that the Megapacks would provide enough energy to “run an entire neighborhood,” marking a significant step in fueling artificial general intelligence.
The post described the collaboration between Tesla and xAI as "the future of power-hungry intelligence," underscoring the deepening synergy between Musk's ventures.
Colossus 2 is xAI’s next-generation AI supercomputer data center, designed to train large-scale models like Grok with over 1 million GPUs and powered by 168 Tesla Megapacks, delivering gigawatt-scale clean energy.
Located in Memphis, the 1-million-square-foot facility includes advanced cooling systems and an $80 million water recycling plant, aiming for high-efficiency and sustainable AI computing. Built to rival OpenAI and Anthropic, Colossus 2 is central to Musk’s vision of achieving AGI and integrating AI across Tesla and X.
The Greater Memphis Chamber confirmed that the project is “well on the path to the supercluster size” outlined in xAI’s original expansion blueprint. While environmental activists have criticized the expansion due to high energy consumption and pollution concerns, the Chamber highlighted that the facility includes significant environmental investments.
Why It Matters: The expansion comes amid controversy, with reports that xAI deployed methane gas turbines without proper permits in a historically Black area already impacted by industrial pollution. State Representative Justin Pearson called attention to potential emissions, including “17.2 tons of formaldehyde” and “over 130 tons of nitrogen oxide.”
Colossus is a critical component of Musk’s AI strategy as he competes with industry leaders. In December, xAI raised $6 billion to expand its supercomputer from 100,000 to over one million GPUs.
The company’s AI chatbot Grok recently became the leading productivity app on the App Store following the release of Grok 3, which introduced new capabilities including image analysis.
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