xAI leader shares insights about building world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Brent Mayo moves at a rapid pace as the point man building Elon Musk’s Colossus 1 and Colossus 2, the largest supercomputers on planet Earth, right here in Memphis, Tennessee.

Mayo told the Memphis Rotary Club on Tuesday that his boss stays in close touch.

“It’s exciting to work for Elon,” Mayo told a jam-packed Rotary meeting at Rooster’s Blues House for a noon luncheon on the Highland Strip near the University of Memphis.

Memphis Rotary Club, Tuesday, July 15, 2025

“We have these conversations that are very informal, and you know, it could be 11:30 p.m., it could be 7 in the morning. But at the end of the day, he wants to know answers to questions that are fundamentally looking to make the product better,” he continued.

Mayo said he’d just been inspecting progress on construction of xAI’s graywater plant, a means of recycling water to cool the massive xAI computers in the former Electrolux plant in Southwest Memphis.

Mayo reassured residents of Southwest Memphis, including Boxtown, that xAI has followed the letter of the law in regard to its energy/pollution-producing turbines, which have become a focus of environmental leaders in Memphis.

Mayo said Musk created Tesla, the electric car company, because of his personal concern about the environment and the well-being of people.

“You know he believes in the solar vision,” Mayo said of Musk’s desire to create a solar farm on 522-acre solar farm near the site of Colossus 1 on Paul R. Lowry Road in Southwest Memphis.

The company representing xAI, CTC Property LLC, signed a 21-year lease with Memphis’ EDGE (Economic Development Growth Engine) that’s intended to become home to the proposed solar farm.

Mayo would not reveal what xAI employees are doing on the site of a former power plant in Southaven, Mississippi.

“We are not publicly disclosing what’s happening there. There’s a lot of wheels turning around what that could be and what we’re looking at. Everything is still on the table right now,” Mayo said.

The xAI general manager did not reveal how its second Colossus supercomputer, now under construction on Tulane Road, will be powered, but did say the site would need a lot of Tesla megapacks, batteries created by Tesla that can store electricity.

Mayo said those megapacks have enough electricity stored within them on the Paul R. Lowry site to prevent any issues with the Memphis Light, Gas and Water electric grid.

“Our perspective is that we should never impact the grid negatively. What we do is isolate ourselves from the grid holistically, and then we use the Tesla megapacks.”

Brent Mayo, general manager of the xAI facility in Memphis, speaks at the Memphis Rotary Club, Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Mayo says xAI has a preference for hiring Memphians and people who live in the Mid-South and revealed that the largely 20-something team of computer experts and engineers receive free lunch, free tools and other creature comforts that should prevent xAI team members from having to run to a store in the middle of a shift.

Action News 5’s Joe Birch asked the xAI leader if he ever anticipates the company developing small modular reactors (SMRs), often referred to as mini-nuclear power plants.

“I have not personally been involved in any conversations that would allude to that, but I do know it’s a topic of discussion,” Mayo said.

The xAI leader also shared some of his personal story: He became a welder in the oil and gas industry in his native East Texas. That work took him across the world to sites in Dubai, Singapore and elsewhere until Musk’s SpaceX learned of his skills.

“I came into SpaceX and was part of the offshore recovery group when we launched Starship and the Falcon 9, just to perform the recovery aspect. So I did that role for a bit because of my offshore background and knowledge of offshore rules and regulations,” Mayo said.

xAI greywater plant plans are now advancing after City Council approved the final sale.

When offered the opportunity to help build the world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis, Mayo says he jumped at the chance.

The xAI leader says he and his team are thrilled with Memphis.

“People were telling us, ‘Hey, you can’t build this in West Tennessee,’ but this is Memphis, and we are using Memphians to build this. There’s no better story to tell somebody who has come and built something like this in Middle America that’s shown the rest of the world like, ‘Hey, you know, we’re real in America and we are building this quite literally in America,’” Mayo said.

“We’re creating an environment in the workforce, and we’re hopefully cultivating the workforce that can lead this AI revolution into the future to make sure that America wins,” Mayo continued with a smile.

Beyond the mind-bending mechanics and logistics of the warp-speed building of supercomputers, Mayo revealed some very down-to-earth, good neighbor gestures of neighborliness that xAI has done entirely under the radar.

Mayo said xAI has helped remove some 600 discarded mattresses from the roadsides and vacant lots of Boxtown and Southwest Memphis, eliminated 100 tons of garbage and looks to help improve the ball fields at Fairly High School and J.P Freeman School, among others.

The xAI team has also taken Memphis-based Code Crew under its wing and has explored scholarships for deserving Memphis students.