SpaceX has agreed to begin removing temporary gas turbines that power part of its Colossus AI data center complex, though the final units may remain in place until July 2027.
Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and AI company said Thursday that it had reached an agreement with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality setting a timeline for removing all 69 mobile turbines at its power facility in Southaven, Mississippi.
The Southaven site is located just across the state line from Colossus 2, one of SpaceXAI’s data centers in Memphis. The Colossus facilities are used to train and operate xAI’s Grok models, and the company has also agreed to lease computing capacity to other AI companies, including Anthropic, at least for now.
SpaceXAI said it would begin removing the temporary turbines as early as August as it brings a permanent 1.2-gigawatt natural gas power plant online. However, the agreement allows the company until July 2027 to remove all of the mobile turbines from the site.
“The 1.2 GW permanent power plant currently under construction will consist of 41 permanent turbines authorized under a Clean Air Act permit, granted to SpaceXAI in March 2026,” the company said.
The agreement follows a legal dispute over whether the company was allowed to operate the turbines without a permit. In April, the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center sued xAI, alleging that the company was operating 27 gas turbines without a permit and polluting nearby communities.
SpaceXAI has argued that the turbines qualify for a temporary mobile exemption because they are mounted on flatbed trailers, allowing them to operate without an air permit for up to one year.
The Justice Department has supported xAI in the lawsuit, arguing that the NAACP’s effort to stop the power supply could threaten U.S. national, economic and energy security by affecting artificial intelligence innovation tied to military operations.
AI companies have increasingly relied on gas turbines as data centers require large amounts of electricity to operate continuously.
SpaceX acquired xAI in February before its record-breaking initial public offering this summer. The merger was a major part of SpaceX’s appeal to investors, with the company claiming significant future earnings potential. In its IPO filing, SpaceX estimated that it was pursuing a 28.5trilliontotaladdressablemarket,withabout28.5trilliontotaladdressablemarket,withabout26.5 trillion expected to come from AI.
The filing also showed that SpaceX had agreed to purchase nearly $3 billion worth of gas turbines in the coming years.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
