SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — The artificial intelligence company xAI has brought a lot of attention to the Mid-South over the last few months. With a $20 billion investment in a Southaven facility, the region has been highlighted in major headlines across the country.
It is the “largest single investment in Mississippi history,” Gov. Tate Reeves said in an interview back in January.
This facility will be the third built by xAI in the Mid-South, with Colossus 1 and 2 located in Memphis. This new site is named MACROHARDER, a play on the name of the tech giant Microsoft. When fully online, the company claims the site will have 2 gigawatts of compute power and be the largest and most advanced supercomputer in the world.
Shannon Samsa, the founder of the Safe and Sound Coalition, said there are growing concerns regarding the potential impact of xAI on the environment and public health.
“There’s a pretty long list of concerns. Right now, one of the primary issues is the noise concerns that we’ve gotten very inconsistent and different answers from the city and no one seems to know exactly what’s going on,” said Samsa.
When Mayor Darren Musselwhite announced the plans back in August, he said xAI took the necessary steps to obtain all legal permissions to build in Southaven. While there is a growing concern regarding the turbines in the area, observers say the company has expressed little worry.
“We feel like our questions aren’t being, they’re answering some of our questions but not with a content and the extent that we’re asking for,” said Samsa.
With 27 methane gas turbines currently operating on the site, the primary concerns are toxic emissions and noise pollution. The turbines emit nitrogen oxides and other chemicals like formaldehyde, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.
“Noise pollution has been ignored entirely. Constant industrial noise disrupts nearby communities and wildlife, destroying any sense of normalcy for residents who never consented to live next to an always-on power facility. The lack of meaningful mitigation shows a complete disregard for quality of life,” says Christin Spurlock in a review on the xAI Power Plant.
Those who support the project praise the number of jobs it is expected to bring to Southaven. Reeves said the project promised hundreds of permanent jobs in DeSoto County, with the number of daily workers “easily in the thousands,” including subcontractors.
In addition to employment, supporters say the project brings a major boost to the local economy.
“We know that this development is coveted around the globe, any city in the world would love to have you here and so we want you to know that we appreciate the magnitude of this and all the financial benefits it’s going to create for our citizens and all the things it’s going to do for the people here,” said Musselwhite.
While the debate over noise and environmental impact continues, some residents believe the industrial growth is worth the cost.
“Noise is a small sacrifice for the greater good,” says Milan Batsuev online.
