The xAI Files
An ongoing investigation into the xAI data centers in Memphis and Southaven, and the agencies that were supposed to be watching them.
30 pieces
About Those NDAs - How Could the Mayor Not Know?
The xAI files Every essay in this series is pinned to a question on the board at rachelandthecity.com/the-xai-files. “There was NDAs that were signed, and you better hear me, and you better hear me loud and clear.” That’s Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton at the Memphis City Council on October 6th. A minute later she asked - …
Could Memphis Have Capped Musk’s Colossus 2?
Musk wants 660,000 more chips in Colossus 2 by the end of the year. A power cap is a chip cap - and Memphis could have passed one last year. Nashville did it in eight weeks.
xAI, MLGW and the NDAs: the real story on Memphis’s water
The recycling plant was MLGW and TVA's idea years before xAI. What xAI promised, what the records show, the NDAs nobody's asked about, and the one water issue that's real.
Does a Moratorium Hand xAI a Monopoly?
The xAI files Every essay in this series is pinned to a question on the board at rachelandthecity.com/the-xai-files. So - the Memphis City Council finally started writing actual data center rules on Thursday. That’s what I’ve been asking for - and it happened two days after they put off the vote on the moratorium for…
Memphians are being poisoned by something worse than gas turbines
There's no study of actual people living near xAI that shows the turbines are making anyone sick - but Brent Taylor is out here bragging about saving your gas stove.
Nashville Body Slams Memphis When It Comes to Data Center Rules
Nashville wrote its data center rules in eight weeks - and Horton filed them before the zoo fight. Memphis has had xAI since 2024 and just held the vote on a pause again.
Is every data center in Memphis like xAI’s?
5C's $575 million permit, St. Jude's own data center, and the rules that would actually help.
Does Memphis’s Data Center Moratorium Even Matter?
It would pause permits, not data centers - and xAI is already built.
Fight breaks out at Memphis City Council after protesters are edged
The Memphis City Council held its data center moratorium 7 to 5 instead of voting on it - and the room erupted.
Memphis and Southaven Can’t Figure Out This Obvious Solution
Southaven's noise law exempts industry under 70 decibels at the fence, only the police can enforce it, and the state says noise isn't its job.
Mississippi Asked xAI Some Very Specific Questions. The Response Was a Hedge.
Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson asked data center companies for water, power, heat, noise and jobs figures. SpaceXAI's two-page answer has none.
What You Should Know About Mississippi’s Upcoming Hearing on xAI’s Turbines
Mississippi's hearing on xAI's Southaven power plant is November 9th and 10th in Jackson, about three hours away. It's about turbines still being built.