Elon Musk wants to buy 418 homes in Mississippi to secure SpaceXAI’s data centers. Between protests and class actions, this is how “Elonville” is being born
The race to build computational capacity for artificial intelligence there doesn’t seem to be any brakes in the United States, one might even wonder if the situation isn’t getting out of hand. Because according to what was reported by The Guardian, Elon Musk seems intent on buying an entire neighborhood in a Mississippi city to build data centers Of SpaceXAIhis artificial intelligence company.
The data center in Southaven
We are in the city of Southaven, Mississippi, a town of just under 60 thousand inhabitants. Not far from this city, more precisely on its western outskirts, the “Colossus” supercomputerwith the relevant data centers for its operation that they currently use 100,000 Nvidia chips (a number expected to increase).
It is precisely from here that the tragedy for the citizens of the neighborhood arises Colonial Hillswhy come on natural gas turbines installed to supply electricity to the data centers (the power plant is just over 500 meters from the neighborhood) comes a constant and continuous noisedescribed by residents as the constant roar of an airplane engine.
The surveys carried out have effectively highlighted how outside the houses there are constant peaks between 65 and 70 decibels (dB)both day and night. This is compared to a maximum limit allowed for residential areas which is 55 dB.
The World Health Organization (WHO) establishes that constant exposure above 55 dB can cause sleep disorders, chronic stress and cardiovascular problems.
It is no coincidence that many residents have complained the inability to sleep or stay in the gardeneven complaining that the windows of the houses are shaking due to the vibrations of the turbines, starting a class action against SpaceXAI.
“Elonville”
To overcome the inconvenience of noise, Musk appears to have opted to purchase the properties of the Colonial Hills neighborhood, or at least this emerges from the recordings obtained by the Guardian, in which one of the real estate agents appointed by SpaceXAI can clearly be heard explaining to a resident that the final objective is to acquire 418 houses.
Upon registration, the agent discloses that 18 property owners had already opted for saleaccepting the offer at market price and signing the sales agreement.
In the same recording, the real estate agent clearly admits that the main reason behind this mass buying and selling is to neutralize the collective lawsuit in the bud (class action) brought by residents exasperated by the deafening noise of servers and generators.
The agreement to receive the money for the house acts in all respects as a legal “non-belligerence agreement”. With which the seller agrees to withdraw from class action lawsuit against SpaceXAI.
One of the Southaven citizens interviewed by the Guardian claims that Elon Musk wants to “expand the purchase to the entire neighborhood” of Colonial Hills, creating “aElonville‘”. Once emptied of civilians, the neighborhood could be armored and transformed into a sort of private campus for SpaceXAI employees, eliminating the problem of public protests at its root.
The mayor’s defense and the planned interventions
After the publication of the Guardian investigation, the mayor of Southaven, Darren Musselwhiteopenly defended xAI’s real estate operation, asserting that local news reports of residents being “forced out” were false.
The mayor confirmed that the properties purchased will be used for host the workforce of xAI and SpaceX as companies expand their operations. Defending the entire operation, which he says will generate unprecedented tax revenues for DeSoto County taxpayers by improving public services.
Musselwhite had also already invited citizens who complained about the noise to “consider selling”, dismissing some of the protests as a “radical political attack” to Elon Musk.
However, procedures have been initiated to implement the agreement with the State of Mississippi, signed this July.
The plan requires Musk’s company to progressively dismantle, between August 2026 and July 2027, all 69 temporary gas turbines responsible for the deafening noise. They will be replaced by a permanent power plant 1.2 GW with 41 authorized fixed turbines and equipped with advanced silencers.
It remains to be seen whether this technological transition will be enough to restore serenity to the remaining citizens or whether Colonial Hills will truly transform intoElonville‘.
