Press Mention Knoxville News Sentinel April 10, 2025
SACE Quoted
Why Elon Musk and his xAI data center in Memphis loom over TVA Trump terminations
In this mention
The article examines how Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence data center in Memphis has become entangled with TVA governance following President Trump's firing of two TVA board members. Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, expresses concern that the Trump administration is intentionally destabilizing TVA leadership and warns that the utility may struggle to meet xAI's rapidly expanding power infrastructure demands. The controversy highlights tensions between private tech expansion, public utility governance, and energy affordability for Memphis residents.
We are very concerned that there is an intentional effort afoot to destabilize the leadership of TVA. Given the approach to the federal government that Trump and DOGE and Musk have taken, I would say that this is the most precarious situation that the TVA as a structure has been in since at least the 1950s.
Stephen A. Smith