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To train cutting-edge AI models, Elon Musk’s xAI startup is preparing to build what might be the world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee. On Wednesday, the city’s local chamber of commerce announced that xAI had selected Memphis to build its “Gigafactory of Compute.””I’ll give you perspective, if you take the two largest supercomputers in the world and combine them, and you multiple that by four, that’s what we’re building here in Memphis,” Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Ted Townsend said in a press conference. Townsend didn’t provide exact specs. But local media reports say the supercomputer will be based in the former Electrolux manufacturing facility, which is 785,000 square feet. For perspective, the world’s current leading supercomputer, Frontier, occupies 7,300 square feet, although the machine also needs extra building space for cooling and power management.
Musk’s xAI also hasn’t commented on the announcement. However, The Information reported last month that Musk plans on installing 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs at the proposed supercomputing center to train new versions of its chatbot, Grok. The goal is to open the facility by fall 2025. Still, we’re skeptical the facility will be the world’s largest supercomputer since other companies including OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta, and Google are also buying massive amounts of GPUs from Nvidia to build their own data centers. For example, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans on acquiring 350,000 Nvidia H100s by the end of this year.
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Nevertheless, the investments underscore how all the major tech companies are preparing to spend billions on new data centers to chase AI progress. In xAI’s case, the supercomputing facility still needs approval from local authorities. But the project promises to create jobs and pour funds into the city. Last month, xAI also announced it had raised an additional $6 billion in a new funding round.
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