Law360 (September 25, 2026, 9:52 PM EDT) -- Elon Musk's Colossus data centers and other xAI-operated facilities are "wreaking havoc" on Memphis-area communities, according to a federal lawsuit filed by homeowners who claim they are "plagued by excessive and offensive noise" at all hours.
Two Memphis-area residents filed suit against X.AI Corp. and subsidiary MZX Tech LLC in Tennessee federal court on Sept. 23. The suit claims that gas-fired turbines powering four data centers create constant noise, vibrations, dust and ash that diminish property values and disturb sleep.
"Residents, who must endure this noise at all hours of the day and night, have described it as being like a 'jet engine,'" the suit said. "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."
The homeowners seek to represent a class of Memphis residents who live in neighborhoods around xAI, specifically those south of Elvis Presley's Graceland home, west of the Frederick W. Smith International Airport and east of
Otis Redding Park, named after the famous singer-songwriter.
They claim that the facilities are a public nuisance and accuse the company of negligent design and construction of its data centers. The homeowners also claim that the company knew or should have known that gas turbines and data centers would generate substantial noise and vibration but failed to mitigate those issues.
They ask the court to order xAI to stop operations or continue only if it can operate without being a public nuisance.
XAI counted Musk as its president and founder and was behind the generative large language model known as Grok. In February,
SpaceX, Musk's rocket company, acquired xAI. Musk is not named as a defendant, but the suit points to public statements he made to connect the dots between land purchases by MZX to build the Macrohardrr data center, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, xAI announced plans to stand up a supercomputer in June 2024. What followed were massive data centers in Memphis, including Colossus I, Colossus II and Minihard.
Additionally, MZX bought land in Southaven, Mississippi, a town just south of the Tennessee border so xAI could build the data center Macrohardrr, the suit said.
The suit said that xAI and MZX operate gas-fired turbines at the Southaven Plant on Stanton Road to power the artificial intelligence data centers. The companies began operating these turbines in mid-2025. Within a year, the companies rapidly increased the number, going from three to 18 turbines between August and September 2025, then to 27, and eventually to 69 temporary turbines, the suit added.
The suit claimed the temporary turbines would be used at least until July and that xAI has permits for 41 permanent turbines.
The noise is described as a "high-pitched squealing, continuous engine roar, low-frequency rumbling, and tonal humming or whining" that travels across property lines and into homes in Memphis, including the Whitehaven area.
The suit quotes those who live around it who describe the noise as unbearable.
One man who lived in Southaven for 20 years said it's like a "leaf blower" that never turns off, adding: "I can't live here like this for another nine months. It's going to drive me crazy."
A person who lives in Whitehaven said, "You can feel it rattling your eardrums. It makes you feel like you're going insane."
The parties did not respond to requests for comment.
The homeowners are represented by Mark P. Chalos, Ellie E. Olson, Wilson M. Dunlavey and Robert J. Nelson of
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP and Thomas R. Greer and Ronald A. Young of Greer Injury Lawyers PLLC.
Counsel information for X.AI Corp. and MZX Tech was not immediately available.
The case is Carter et al. v. X.AI Corp. et al., case number
2:26-cv-03257, in the
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
--Editing by Nick Siwek.
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