If you find it noisy, I'll buy your house! SpaceX solves data center complaints with "rich money" method, residents are dumbfounded and refuse to pay

A gas turbine is parked at the xAI turbine facility in Mississippi, USA. (Reuters)

Residents of a residential area in Mississippi, USA, continue to protest because they are dissatisfied with the noise from the power generation facilities used by Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI data center. Unexpectedly, the company actually proposed a "tycoon-style solution": directly acquire the houses of nearby residents, but there was a condition that the owners were not allowed to join the lawsuit against the company's noise problem.

The British "Guardian" reported that real estate agents, on behalf of xAI, recently went door-to-door to contact homeowners in Southaven, Mississippi, hoping to acquire residences near the data center. According to a recording of a conversation obtained by The Guardian, a real estate agent told residents that the acquisition target reached 418 households, and 18 homeowners have already agreed to sell. However, xAI did not respond to relevant figures or explain the complete acquisition plan.

The project would likely cover most of the homes in the Colonial Hills community on Southaven's west side. The real estate agent and the local mayor said that the acquired houses will be provided for xAI employees to live in to cope with the company's rapid expansion. In the past two years, xAI has built three large data centers in Southaven and the adjacent Memphis, Tennessee area, namely Colossus I, Colossus II and Macrohardrr.

However, the speed of expansion of the data center and the noise generated by the power supply equipment have caused dissatisfaction among some residents. A local power generation facility formerly owned by Duke Energy has 69 temporary gas turbines to provide power for the data center. The report pointed out that these devices were installed without permission, and the sound of continuous operation was unbearable to nearby residents.

Piano teacher Elizabeth Rose said the noise was like an airplane engine running continuously and even woke her up at 2 or 3 in the morning. She is worried that the acquisition plan will gradually expand to the entire community, turning the area into Musk's private world, and joked that it may become "Elonville" in the future.

Another resident, Jason Haley, said that he had lived there for 20 years and had never thought that he would be involved in legal proceedings due to noise issues, but the continuous high-pitched hum of a gas turbine about half a mile from his home kept him awake. In June, he and two other residents filed a lawsuit alleging that the power generation facility caused near-constant noise, vibration and other disruptions to their lives.

The report pointed out that in a local area where the average house price is about US$180,000 (approximately NT$5.72 million), the market value of these houses is a relatively small investment compared to Musk's vision of creating the world's largest AI supercomputer cluster. Local property records show that MZX has purchased five homes in the community since October 9.

xAI denied the relevant accusations and stated that it values ​​maintaining good relations with the community and has reduced the impact by adjusting power generation output and building soundproof walls. According to the acquisition notice obtained by The Guardian, MZX, the xAI subsidiary responsible for operating the facilities, said that it is willing to purchase nearby residences because it needs land for its business, but the contract requires that the homeowners not join the class action lawsuit filed by Haley.