X.AI's massive facilities adjacent to Memphis, Tennessee have destroyed small-town residential calm and quiet with constant noise, incessant vibrations, and other racket.

On September 23, 2026, the national plaintiffs law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and the Memphis firm Greer Injury Lawyers filed a federal class action lawsuit in Tennessee on behalf of southern Memphis residents impacted by the massive hyperscale data centers that Elon Musk’s xAI company built to power its supercomputers and chatbot. Residents allege that the loud and polluting data centers, and the gas-turbine power plant that fuels them, have interfered with their ability to use and enjoy their properties, diminished their property values, and deposited dust, ash, and other particulate matter onto their properties.

The construction of massive data centers and power-generation facilities to support the artificial intelligence (“AI”) boom and to generate massive profits for AI companies is wreaking havoc on residential communities across the United States. When these facilities are located near quiet residential areas, they subject residents to near-constant noise, vibrations, and other harms that interfere with residents’ fundamental right to use and enjoy their properties. Indeed, this is precisely what has occurred on the Memphis border between Tennessee and Mississippi, where xAI and MZX Tech (the “Defendants”) are building out a massive gas power plant to power three huge AI data centers.

As the Complaint details, for decades the residents of southern Memphis enjoyed the calm and quiet nature of their community, accustomed to sleeping, conversing, entertaining, and enjoying their homes and outdoor spaces, together with family, friends, and neighbors. In mid-2025, Defendants actions destroyed that calm and quiet. Defendants began operating loud and polluting gas-fired turbines to power the massive AI data centers that Defendants own and operate on the Mississippi and Tennessee border. “Nobody moves to a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood to be jolted awake by roaring turbines at night, or to live with their windows shut,” said Thomas Greer of Greer Injury Lawyers. “These families were here first. They deserve their homes back.”

The first two of these data centers, “Colossus I” and “Colossus II,” are located in Memphis, Tennessee. As the Complaint sets forth, Defendants are building two additional data centers, “MACROHARDRR,” spanning over 810,000 square-feet and “Minihard,” a more compact but equally powerful facility in Whitehaven, Tennessee. And Defendants have purchased a series of related properties to support these facilities, including a water recycling facility in a Memphis industrial park near Colossus I.

As the Complaint further notes, in less than a year, Defendants increased the number of gas-fired turbines on site by 2,300%. Defendants increased the number of turbines from 3 to 18 between August and September of 2025, after community members had already shared concerns about the constant noise with the media, police, and local government. Defendants thereafter continued to increase the number of turbines – first to 27, and eventually to 69. Defendants have relied on these “temporary” turbines for the last year, and indicate they will continue to rely on them at least until July of 2027.

“That Defendants chose to do this massive, noisy industrial project in the middle of an established residential community in Memphis is deeply troubling,” Tennessee-based Lieff Cabraser partner Mark Chalos explains. “No matter how many billions of dollars these companies have, they have no right to come to Tennessee and wreak havoc on our communities.”

As the number of turbines and the size of the data centers have grown, so has the persistent and intrusive noise that emanates from the facilities —24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The noise generated by the facilities includes a distinctive combination of high-pitched squealing, continuous engine roaring, low-frequency rumbling, and tonal humming or whining that travels across property lines, through walls, and into area homes in Memphis. This din can also be felt as a palpable, physical vibration. The presence of this noise is pervasive and inescapable, especially at night when other sounds in the indoor and outdoor environment are quiet.

Residents, who must endure this noise at all hours of the day and night, have described it as being like a “jet engine.” As one resident explained, “This is heard at night when I’m trying to go to sleep, and I hear it when I wake up,” resulting in loss of sleep, headaches, and persistent ringing in the ears. This constant noise and accompanying vibration from the facilities interferes with Plaintiffs’ and area residents’ daily life and well-being. It disrupts their sleep and prevents the ordinary use and enjoyment of both their indoor and outdoor living spaces in their places of residence. Activities that were once routine like sitting or dining outside, opening windows, relaxing indoors, or resting at night have been materially impaired or rendered impossible by the continuous industrial noise and vibration. Dust, ash, and other particulate matter from the facilities have also been carried by the air and deposited on residents cars, outdoor furniture, and is carried indoors when residents open their doors and windows.

The build-out of the facilities is massive and clandestine. “Defendants have tried to obscure the scope of their project by erecting large black fences and scare residents from asking questions by posting guards dressed in camouflage at the entrances to these construction sites,” notes Lieff Cabraser partner Wilson Dunlavey. “But the sheer scope of construction is plain to see and hear, and this community will not be silenced by BigTech.”

The class action lawsuit includes allegations of violations of local noise ordinances, private nuisance, public nuisance, negligence, negligence per se, and trespass, and seeks actual, compensatory, statutory, consequential, and punitive damages, abatement of the nuisance, and injunctive relief requesting that the Court order Defendants to cease operations unless they can do so without harming the community.

For more information, visit https://www.lieffcabraser.com/environment/memphis-data-centers/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260923083177/en/

X.AI's massive facility adjacent to Memphis, Tennessee has transformed small-town suburban calm and quiet into a hellscape of pollution, noise, and incessant vibrations