Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is planning to construct a multibillion greenback supercomputer in Memphis as a part of his effort to step up competitors with rival corporations akin to OpenAI and Google, in response to a report.
Musk and his staff at xAI have been in talks with officers in Memphis since March about development of a facility that will home an information middle that he hoped can be up and working by the autumn of subsequent yr, according to Bloomberg News.
The deliberate supercomputer would comprise 100,000 of Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing items (GPU). It could be used to coach the latest version of xAI’s chat bot Grok.
At the moment, xAI rents round 16,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs from Oracle Cloud. Information of Musk’s plan for a supercomputer have been first reported by The Information.
The H100 is a chip manufactured by Nvidia.
It’s thought of essentially the most highly effective GPU chip in the marketplace and is designed particularly for AI functions.
Ted Townsend, president of the Larger Memphis Chamber, advised Bloomberg Information that the deliberate supercomputer can be “the most important multibillion-dollar investments within the metropolis of Memphis’s historical past.”
Townsend didn’t say what number of jobs the venture will create nor did he speculate on the entire price, although he did add that the town was providing xAI tax breaks and different incentives to construct the venture in Memphis.
“We have now work to do, make no mistake,” he mentioned.
“However we’re actually extremely grateful for the curiosity from Elon and his executives and the xAI staff.”
Information of Musk’s plans for Memphis was first reported by Daily Memphian. The Put up has sought remark from X.
Memphis Mayor Paul Younger declined to get into specifics of what the xAI supercomputer would price and what number of jobs it will generate — solely to say that particulars have been “nonetheless in growth.”
“We wish to say that innovation is in our DNA — from the beginning of the modern-day resort, grocery retailer, and in a single day supply to groundbreaking medical discoveries, the blues and rock ‘n’ roll,” Younger mentioned in a press release shared with Bloomberg.
“We’re a metropolis of innovators, and it is sensible that Memphis appears like residence to these looking for to alter the world.”
Tennessee has turn into a well-liked vacation spot for companies trying to provide workers decrease price of residing bills whereas saving on taxes.
Oracle, which is chaired by Musk’s pal Larry Ellison, mentioned earlier this yr it was planning to move its corporate headquarters from Austin, Texas, to Nashville.
The transfer would come only a few years after Ellison relocated Oracle headquarters from Silicon Valley to the capital of the Lone Star State.
Amazon additionally has an workplace in Nashville the place hundreds of workers work.
Earlier this week, CNBC reported that Musk has advised Nvidia to prioritize shipments of AI processors to his firms X and xAI over his electric-vehicle maker Tesla.
“Elon prioritizing X H100 GPU cluster deployment at X versus Tesla by redirecting 12K of shipped H100 GPUs initially slated for Tesla to X as a substitute,” an inside Nvidia memo from December confirmed, in response to the CNBC report.
The information indicators Musk is giving priority to artificial intelligence-related development outside Tesla and comes forward of an important shareholder vote on his $56 billion pay package at the company.
The billionaire can also be pursuing AI growth at X, and xAI, for chatbot Grok, amongst different functions.
XAI, which Musk launched in 2023 to problem ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, raised $6 billion in funding final month.
Tesla shareholders will vote on June 13 on a pay bundle for Musk that’s thought of to be the most important for a CEO in company America.
