How xAI builds AI data centres faster than anyone else
Despite starting later than rivals, xAI is now ahead for single-site AI training.
xAI has just announced its third AI data centre, bringing its capacity up to 2GW. How does xAI build its data centres so quickly?
Despite starting much later than AI giants like OpenAI and Google, Elon Musk's xAI has effectively closed the gap and is now ahead for single-site AI training.
I take a closer look at the unorthodox methods xAI used to build its AI data centres faster than anyone else on the planet.
AI and non-AI
To be clear, AI data centres are slightly different from traditional data centres. The latter are often designed for a broad range of customers, with differing resilience requirements.
AI data centres are far more homogeneous, though they require much more power and operate at far higher rack-level power densities.
In practice, this translates into hall-level CDUs for direct-to-chip liquid cooling today, with DC power expected to emerge next.
Unorthodox methods
When xAI built its Colossus data centre, it finished in a record 122 days, a fraction of the time needed by rivals. How did xAI pull it off?
Here's what I observed.
Colossus was deployed in a former industrial warehouse facility that was retrofitted for AI infrastructure. It was a "shell" in the truest sense of the word.
Instead of waiting for power, "temporary" gas turbines were deployed onsite, skipping protracted waits for grid power and avoiding slow regulatory approvals for permanent infrastructure.
There was no staged testing, acceptance tests, or phases that I read about. The first GPU racks were operational 19 days after delivery, with new racks integrated on a rolling basis.
Colossus 2 and the just-announced MACROHARDRR AI data centres are under construction at the moment, and xAI has apparently secured the GPUs for them.
Build me a power plant
The MACROHARDRR AI data centre is interesting because it doesn't appear that xAI plans to install onsite gas turbines there.
However, it is located in the state of Mississippi, a short distance away from a former power plant that xAI purchased in 2025.
The site has seven newly installed 35MW turbines in operation with ample room for more, according to Semianalysis in a September report.
Separately, Musk last year also confirmed that xAI intends to buy a power plant overseas and import it into the US to power its data centres.
The site of a former power plant makes sense because it will likely have existing substations, transmission lines, cooling infrastructure, and industrial zoning and permits.
It'll be interesting to see what other tricks the xAI team will use to further speed up its AI data centre deployments.
