Elon Musk’s Memphis Supercluster recently went online, and with a hundred thousand liquid-cooled H100 GPUs onboard, this data center will undoubtedly eat up a lot of power. With each H100 GPU consuming at least 700 watts, Musk’s AI data center will need upwards of 70 megawatts of power to run all 100,000 GPUs concurrently — and that's before we add in all of the supporting servers, networking, and cooling equipment. Surprisingly, Musk uses 14 massive mobile generators to power the facility as he works out power supply agreements with local utilities.
Dylan Patel, an AI and semiconductor analyst who heads SemiAnalysis, originally ruminated on X that it would’ve been impossible for Musk to run the Memphis Supercluster because of power constraints. He said only 7 MW is currently being drawn from the grid, which would only power around 4,000 GPUs. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will deliver 50 MW to the facility if xAI signs a pending deal, but it can only do so by August 1 at the earliest. Patel also observed that the 150 MW substation on the xAI site is still under construction and won’t finish until 24Q4.
However, after examining satellite imagery, Patel soon posted a new Tweet when he realized how Musk did it — by using 14 VoltaGrid mobile generators connected to what looks like four mobile substations.
