Elon split his AI datacenter across two states to get easy permits, cheap power, and zero chip tax
samcharrington · x · 2026-08-19
A viral thread breaks down the siting logic behind Elon's Memphis xAI supercomputer. After Memphis fought his turbines for a year, he placed the new ones just over the state line in Southaven, Mississippi, which unanimously approved all 41 turbines three weeks after the public hearing. The servers stayed in Tennessee for its ultra-cheap power. Mississippi then offered the biggest deal in state history—$20 billion with zero sales tax on the chips inside. Turbines where permits come easy, servers where power is cheap, GPUs where tax is zero: each piece sits in whichever state charges less.
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