xAI's MZX offers to buy 418 Southaven homes if owners drop suit

The buyout offer sits alongside a lawsuit filed by three residents who accuse the data center and gas-fired turbines of emitting "near-constant noise" and vibrations. The letter to households frames the purchase as a real estate deal but ties it explicitly to a release of claims, meaning each sale would shrink the pool of people backing that litigation. Renters in the area report they are already being forced out with 60 days' notice after their landlords agreed to sell, a group the offer does not appear to address directly.

The move comes as xAI has ramped up its data center buildout over the past couple of years, constructing two sprawling "Colossus" facilities in Memphis and bringing its "Macrohardrr" data center and an accompanying power plant to Southaven. Local opposition has begun to register politically: last week the Memphis City Council voted down a one-year moratorium on AI data center development and instead adopted an ordinance pausing construction for 135 days. Mississippi's governor touted the company's plan to invest more than $20 billion in the area earlier this year.

Financial and legal exposure is also mounting. SpaceXAI recently reported it faces up to $6.1 million in potential civil penalties for environmental law violations, along with more than $220 million in claims of unpaid bills for work performed at the Memphis and Southaven sites. Separately, the NAACP accuses the company of operating dozens of unpermitted methane gas turbines in Southaven, and a federal judge blocked the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss that lawsuit earlier this month. Against that backdrop, the home buyout offer can be read as an attempt to contain one front of local litigation while others continue, though the company denies all allegations against it.