SpaceXAI agreed to dismantle 69 illegal gas turbines from one of its data centers, but it will take a whole year to do so

SpaceX has promised to fully remove unpermitted gas turbines powering the SpaceXAI data centers near Memphis, Tennessee, by July 2027. TechCrunch first spotted the company statement.

The 69 turbines sparked a lawsuit from the NAACP, filed in April 2026. The organization accuses the company of violating the Clean Air Act and claims residents in nearby neighborhoods face exposure to hazardous chemicals and polluted air. The lawsuit specifically links this kind of pollution to asthma, respiratory illness, heart failure, and cancer.

Under an agreement reached with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, removal of the temporary turbines will begin in August 2026. The process is expected to wrap up by July 2027. A new 1.2 GW power plant will take their place, one that SpaceX is building in Mississippi under a Clean Air Act permit.

The situation traces back to February 2026, when SpaceX absorbed xAI with ambitious plans to push data centers into space alongside its existing rocket and satellite internet businesses. That's when the disputed turbines showed up, powering AI infrastructure without the proper permits.

SpaceXAI maintains that "local air quality meets or exceeds EPA standards." The US Department of Justice filed a motion in June to dismiss the NAACP lawsuit, though the case remains active for now.

Removing the turbines probably won't slow down SpaceX AI infrastructure expansion. The company has already signed new deals to provide data center capacity to Anthropic and Google, so operations are only set to grow from here.