SpaceX Plans to Remove xAI's Illegal Turbines, But Not Until Mid-2027

Key points

• SpaceX is currently running 69 unpermitted gas turbines to power xAI's Colossus data centers near Memphis, Tennessee.
• The turbines will not be fully removed until July 2027, despite an ongoing lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center.
• The replacement will be a permanent natural gas power plant with 41 turbines, permitted by Mississippi, generating up to 1.2 gigawatts of electricity.
• SpaceX plans to spend $2.8 billion on gas turbines for its data centers over the next three years, according to its IPO filing.
• The existing turbines have the potential to emit more than 2,000 tons of NOx, a smog-forming pollutant, per year.

SpaceX confirmed this week that it will pull out all 69 unpermitted gas turbines currently powering xAI's Colossus data centers, a cluster of computing facilities that runs the AI models behind Elon Musk's Grok chatbot. The catch: the last turbine stays until July 2027.

Why are the turbines a problem?

The turbines are operating without the environmental permits that federal rules require. SpaceX argues they are exempt because they sit on the trailers they arrived on, making them technically mobile. Federal regulators disagree. Given the turbines' size and continuous use, regulators say permits are mandatory.

The facilities sit just south of Memphis, in a part of Mississippi that borders Tennessee. The area already ranks among the most polluted in the country. These turbines can release more than 2,000 tons per year of NOx, a gas that reacts with sunlight to form smog and worsens respiratory conditions like asthma.

The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center sued xAI over the permits earlier this year. SpaceX acquired xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company, in February. Last month, the Department of Justice sided with SpaceX in that lawsuit, describing the turbines as a matter of "national, economic, and energy security."

What replaces the turbines?

A permanent, permitted natural gas power plant. According to Mississippi state permit documents, the new facility will use 41 turbines ranging from 16.48 megawatts to 50 megawatts each, producing a combined 1.2 gigawatts, enough to power roughly one million average US homes.

SpaceX's IPO filing puts the price tag in context: the company plans to buy $2.8 billion worth of gas turbines for its data centers over the next three years.

Earlier this year, Musk also purchased APR Energy, a firm that specialises in temporary natural gas power. The turbines in APR's fleet appear to differ from the ones listed in the permits for the new Colossus plant, first reported by TechCrunch. That gap suggests the APR turbines are destined for a separate, unannounced project.

What does this mean for people near the site?

Residents in this already heavily polluted corridor will keep living next to unpermitted turbines for at least two more years. The legal challenge from the NAACP is ongoing, but last month's Justice Department intervention makes a quick court-ordered shutdown less likely.

If you live in the Memphis area and are worried about air quality, the EPA's AirNow tool lets you check daily pollution levels by zip code and get health guidance based on what's in the air where you are.

The honest takeaway here: a powerful company broke the rules, got sued, and is now promising to fix things on its own timeline. That timeline is two years away. Watch whether the state of Mississippi enforces the new permits more strictly than the old rules were enforced.