2024-07-09 21:02:00
Elon Musk’s X.AI will build the world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, the head of the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce Ted Townsend said on the WREG news channel, Day.Az reports with reference to TASS.
“I am excited to announce that the world’s largest supercomputer, X.AI’s Gigafactory of Compute, will be located in Memphis,” he said. “Imagine the computing power needed to send humans to Mars. It will be here in Memphis,” he added.
According to the head of the Chamber of Commerce, the project will require approval from the economic development authorities of the city of Memphis and Shelby County, the Tennessee River Valley Authority and several other agencies. It is known that the supercomputer will be based on Nvidia H100 graphics processors, designed to accelerate systems based on artificial intelligence (AI). It is assumed that it will be located in a plant formerly owned by Swedish home appliance manufacturer Electrolux Group.
Townsend said that talks with X.AI about building a supercomputer began in March of this year. Musk had previously said that his startup plans to launch a supercomputer by the fall of 2025.
Musk created X.AI last summer, following the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. In November 2023, the startup unveiled its chatbot, Grok. In May, X.AI raised $6 billion in a major funding round. The company’s CEO himself estimated its total value at $24 billion. At the same time, the American billionaire has repeatedly noted that AI poses a potential threat to humanity. In his speech at the VivaTech conference, he called Mars its greatest hope and AI its greatest fear.