AI Firm Offers to Buy 418 Homes in Mississippi, but Only If Owners Drop Noise Lawsuit
Residents near the Southaven plant can sell their property, though the deal bars them from pursuing the pending complaint over sound and vibration.
By Tyler Khalil ·
Residents in one Southaven, Mississippi neighborhood are getting letters offering to buy their homes. The offer comes from MZX, a subsidiary of xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company. The deal requires sellers to give up their right to join a lawsuit against the company.
A realtor working for the company told one resident that 418 homes are targeted for purchase. Eighteen owners already have plans to sell. Renters in the area report receiving 60 days' notice because their landlords have agreed to sell.
The letter sent to households lays out the terms. MZX denies the allegations against it but says it needs the property. Sellers who accept must sign a release agreement at closing. That release covers claims related to the Southaven Plant and the Haley action. Once signed, the homeowner cannot recover damages or bring claims of their own.
Three residents filed the Haley lawsuit. They accuse the data center and its gas-fired turbines of producing near-constant noise and vibration. The Southaven site sits just over the Tennessee border from Memphis, where xAI has built two Colossus facilities.
Other legal matters are also pending. The NAACP has sued the company, alleging it runs dozens of unpermitted methane gas turbines in Southaven. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss that case earlier this month. Mississippi's governor announced the company would invest more than $20 billion in the area earlier this year. The company now faces up to $6.1 million in potential civil penalties for environmental violations, plus more than $220 million in unpaid bills for work at the Memphis and Southaven sites.
Local officials have acted on the noise complaints too. The Memphis City Council voted last week against a one-year moratorium on AI data center development. It adopted an ordinance instead that pauses construction for 135 days.
