Memphis fails to pass 1-year data center moratorium, opts for shorter-term ban

Memphis has become a hotspot for data centers driven by Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI.

In a heated city council meeting on Tuesday, leaders in Memphis, Tennessee, voted against a moratorium that would have paused data center development for a year in the city, which has become a hotspot for the facilities driven by Elon Musk's SpaceXAI.Instead, city council members passed a substitute ordinance — which some said they received on short notice and did not have time to review — that would halt construction of data centers for 135 days.Residents and activists have pushed back against data center development in the region for years, starting with the construction of SpaceXAI's Colossus 1 data center in 2024. The company has also built two other data centers and has two under construction in Memphis and the surrounding region, including across the state border in Southaven, Mississippi.

Also in Southaven, a plant powering the company's data centers is using methane gas turbines, which prompted a lawsuit from the NAACP and other organizations over alleged pollution.SpaceXAI did not reply to a request for comment. The Trump administration moved to dismiss the case, but earlier Tuesday, a Mississippi federal judge blocked that bid. Supporters of data centers argue they are needed to support the growth of artificial intelligence technology. Advocates also say they will create much-needed jobs, although experts counter many of those jobs are in the construction industry