In the ongoing story of how artificial intelligence is being built out of concrete, copper and electricity, a new chapter has opened in Memphis, where Elon Musk has said he will take over a former Spam factory and a gun range to widen his Colossus 2 data center complex. The announcement, pieced together from headlines and local reports rather than a full account, reflects a familiar pattern: the appetite for computing power pushes ever outward into older industrial land. Whether these buildings become server halls or remain a stated ambition is not yet settled, and the answer will depend less
Musk Says He Is Taking Over an Old Spam Factory and Gun Range to Expand Colossus 2 AI Complex
A Spam factory and a gun range, folded into an AI complex.
Mark
So what actually happened here? Musk says he's taking over a Spam factory and a gun range?
Mimi
That's the claim. He says those two properties will be used to expand Colossus 2, the AI data center complex in Memphis. Local outlets also reported him discussing two more data centers in the city.
Mark
Why would a Spam factory and a gun range be useful for a data center?
Mimi
Big buildings and land are the starting point. But the coverage doesn't say why these two were chosen, so I'd be careful about filling that in.
Luke
Right, and that's the gap. What we have is Musk saying he's doing it. No purchase price, no closing date, no square footage in what's in front of us.
Mark
There's a number about power, too.
Mimi
About 2.2 gigawatts for 1.2 million Blackwell chips. It points to how much electricity this kind of build needs.
Luke
But that's FourWeekMBA's estimate, and the headline doesn't show the math. It also doesn't say Musk has committed to 1.2 million chips in Memphis. I wouldn't treat it as a confirmed figure for these sites.
Mark
So what should a reader watch?
Mimi
Power supply approvals and local permitting. Those are the steps that would turn a statement into something concrete.
Luke
And whether the deals have actually closed. Intent and ownership aren't the same thing.
El Pulso
- Musk says xAI will take over a former Spam factory and a gun range, turning two unlikely industrial relics into potential AI data center space.
- Local outlets in Memphis are reporting the plans, and a single headline calls the operation SpaceXAI, adding confusion about who is actually building what.
- The scale is staggering: an estimated 1.2 million Blackwell chips would demand roughly 2.2 gigawatts of electricity, a load that strains any grid.
- The purchases have not been confirmed as closed, and timelines, costs and conversion plans remain unannounced, leaving the expansion suspended between declaration and reality.
- Power supply approvals and local permits are the next gates to watch as the Memphis footprint takes shape.
In the ongoing story of how artificial intelligence is being built out of concrete, copper and electricity, a new chapter has opened in Memphis, where Elon Musk has said he will take over a former Spam factory and a gun range to widen his Colossus 2 data center complex. The announcement, pieced together from headlines and local reports rather than a full account, reflects a familiar pattern: the appetite for computing power pushes ever outward into older industrial land. Whether these buildings become server halls or remain a stated ambition is not yet settled, and the answer will depend less on the promise itself than on the slower question of how much power the city can deliver.
Elon Musk has said that his artificial intelligence build-out in Memphis is about to grow again. He describes taking over two more properties, a former Spam factory and a gun range, and folding them into Colossus 2, the data center cluster at the heart of his AI work in the city.
The news reached the public mostly through a scattering of headlines rather than one full report. Business Insider carried Musk's remarks, and Memphis outlets such as WREG and Local Memphis described him discussing further data centers and hinting at more development to come. One headline uses the name SpaceXAI without explaining it.
Missing from the coverage are the basics: the size of the sites, their price, their former owners, and when work would finish. It is not clear whether the deals have closed or whether the buildings will be converted or demolished. What is clear is Musk's stated intent.
The scale of the ambition is also striking. One outlet estimates that 1.2 million Blackwell chips, Nvidia's current AI processors, would require about 2.2 gigawatts of power. That figure is unverified and not tied to any confirmed plan for these sites, but it points to the real constraint: electricity on a steady, enormous scale.
For now, the old Spam plant and the gun range stand as a promise. The next signals to watch are power supply approvals and local permitting, which will show whether the Memphis expansion moves from announcement to construction.
Elon Musk says he is taking over two more properties in Memphis for his artificial intelligence build-out: a former Spam factory and a gun range. The plan, as he describes it, is to fold them into the Colossus 2 complex, the data center cluster that is the centerpiece of his AI ambitions in the city.
The claim comes through a cluster of headlines gathered on a news aggregator rather than a single full article. Business Insider carried the line about the Spam factory and the gun range. Local outlets in Memphis, including WREG and Local Memphis, reported that Musk was discussing two more data centers in the city and hinting at further development while talking about the company's Memphis facilities. One of those headlines refers to the operation as SpaceXAI, a name that appears in the coverage without further explanation.
The headlines do not say how large the two sites are, what they cost, who owned them, or when the takeover would be finished. They also do not say whether the purchases have closed or whether the buildings would be converted or torn down. What the coverage establishes is Musk's own statement of intent, delivered in the context of discussing the Memphis footprint.
A separate headline, from FourWeekMBA, puts a number on the scale of the hardware involved. It says that 1.2 million Blackwell chips, Nvidia's current-generation AI processors, would need about 2.2 gigawatts of power. That is an estimate from that outlet, and the headline does not show how it was reached or whether Musk has committed to that chip count at the Memphis sites. But it frames the central practical question: a deployment of that size requires an enormous, steady supply of electricity.
That is why the old Spam plant and the gun range matter beyond their novelty. Data center expansion on this scale depends on land, buildings and, above all, power. Taking over existing industrial and commercial properties can give a developer space that is already zoned and close to infrastructure, though the available coverage does not confirm that this is the case here.
What the reporting leaves open is considerable. Power supply approvals and local permitting are the next things to watch as the Memphis data center footprint grows. Until those steps are visible, the Spam factory and the gun range remain, for now, a statement from Musk about what he intends to do.
Citas Notables
Musk says he is taking over an old Spam factory and a gun range to expand Colossus 2.— Business Insider headline, reporting Musk's statement
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