Some United States civil rights groups filed a letter of intent to sue xAI over its plans to build an additional gas-fired power plant to power its data centers. Mississippi regulators hosted a public hearing over the scheme on Tuesday where residents expressed their outrage over these plans.
xAI was not immediately available for comment.
For context, in June 2024, xAI announced plans to build its Colossus I data center next to Boxtown, a historically Black community in Memphis, Tennessee. Residents discovered that the facility was powered by 35 unpermitted gas turbines.
This time, xAI announced plans to build its Colossus II in Whitehaven, Tennessee, a well‑known majority‑Black neighborhood in southwest Memphis. It also announced Colossus III in Southaven, Mississippi, which has a 39% Black population, according to a2024 Census, opens new tab.
These moves sparked the threat of legal action by civil rights groups.
Civil rights and environmental groups like the NAACP, Young, Gifted and Green, Memphis Community Against Pollution, and Protect Our Aquifer have raised concerns over harmful emissions, secrecy, and a perceived lack of accountability by both xAI and regulators.
They highlighted Boxtown and southwest Memphis as communities already over‑burdened by industrial pollution back in 2024. In December 2025, xAI announced plans to build another data center which will expand the footprint and total power demand for its Memphis‑area operations close to 2 gigawatts (2 GW).
