I posted this on Facebook on September 7. It lives here too so it’s on the record.
Hey Texas, this one’s for you.
Last week I wrote about how xAI’s job listings tell you what the company’s doing before the company does. Another one just turned up, but this one is in Texas.
A Korean business paper, Businesskorea, reported today that a SpaceXAI job listing was for a “Doosan combined cycle power plant” to power its computers “in the Memphis region.”
Doosan is a big South Korean power equipment maker. That paper said that Elon Musk answered “True” in January to a post saying xAI had bought five of its gas turbines that were 380 megawatts each. The paper said the listing had been pulled from the company’s careers page, and that the location kept changing from one copy to the next, so it couldn’t say where the plant would go.
The old copies of that listing are on the Wayback Machine.
On February 20th the job was “based in Memphis, Tennessee,” and the company wanted somebody with Tennessee, Mississippi, or Arkansas experience. By March 28th the same listing said “based in Texas,” and the Southeast line was gone. Every copy after that says Texas. A second listing went up in May for a permit person at a Memphis desk whose whole job was Texas air permits and grid paperwork. Both were gone by September 1st.
Put the two together and the new plant is most likely headed to Texas.
Combined cycle means that these are the kind of gas turbine that’s a jet engine bolted to the ground, and this kind of plant uses its hot exhaust to boil water and spin a second turbine. Same gas, but more power. The 41 turbines Mississippi permitted for Southaven are the simpler kind.
Plus, The Information reported in July that SpaceXAI was looking at several Texas sites, built from scratch or made out of old warehouses, at a gigawatt or more. But they didn’t say where. The job listings say a Texas power plant has been in the works since at least February.
If I lived near a big empty warehouse in Texas with a gas line close by, I’d be reading the state’s air permit notices right now, and I’d ask my county what got filed lately under the word warehouse. By the time Memphians found out – it was too late to do anything.
If you like facts-first info on all this, consider leaving a tip on Venmo or PayPal – this stuff takes a lot of time to put together. And check out everything I’ve written with citations and receipts at the xAI Files.
Sources
- Hur Sung-soo, “Musk-Backed xAI Plans Doosan Power Plant,” Businesskorea, September 7, 2026. The Korean original, marked exclusive: Baek Seo-won, Dailian, September 7, 2026.
- The SpaceXAI job listing, Construction Manager (Power Generation), as archived by the Wayback Machine on February 20, 2026 (“based in Memphis, Tennessee”) and on May 15, 2026 (“based in Texas”). The live page now redirects.
- The SpaceXAI job listing, Permitting Specialist (Power Generation), Memphis, TN, as archived on July 20, 2026.
- Oh Jieun, “Musk Personally Confirms: U.S. xAI Purchases Five 380MW-Class Gas Turbines from Korea’s Doosan Enerbility,” Asia Economy Daily, January 6, 2026.
- The Information’s report on SpaceXAI scouting Texas sites, July 22, 2026, as relayed by Yahoo Finance.
- The Southaven power plant permit and the rest of the record are on the xAI Files board.
Everything I have written about AI is in one place at rachelandthecity.com/the-ai-files.