- SpaceX is offering half-price Starlink to some users in Memphis
- Travelers near an xAI data center are eligible for the offer
- The company is being sued for pollution caused by its infrastructure
Here’s one way to try to overcome local opposition to your energy-hungry, water-sucking, AI-fed data centers: offer residents some sweeteners in exchange for building the infrastructure in their backyard.
As Bloomberg reports, SpaceX is now giving out half-price Starlink subscriptions to those around the Memphis, Tennessee area, where the company operates existing Colossus data centers and “continues to invest in the Memphis area.”
There will be no upfront hardware costs for new customers and the discounts can be shared with “close” friends and family through a referral. But if you change your address and move from the area, you will lose your discount.
Although ‘satisfaction of local residents’ is not explicitly mentioned in the SpaceX statement, it does not require much reading between the lines. If you live around Memphis or neighboring Southaven, you can see if your address is in an eligible part of the area by looking it up online.
Pollution problems
He’s trying to curry favor, but I doubt there are even enough users here for this to work. from r/Starlink
The data centers in this region are primarily for the SpaceX subsidiary xAI, and the company is currently being sued for violating the Clean Air Act: it is claimed that the methane gas turbines that power the Colossus data centers do not have the necessary permits.
“As we’ve shared since xAI began operating in Memphis, our homes, churches and playgrounds will not be sacrifice zones for the convenience of Big Tech,” said Abre’ Conner, a director at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
It remains to be seen whether half-price internet will change the mood of those affected: the discount may also be known “please don’t stop us from running illegal natural gas turbines discount” states a user on Reddit,
However, discounting Starlink packages is not the only commitment xAI undertakes. The company has also said it will resume work on a wastewater recycling plant from next year that will supply clean water to the data centers and local authorities, although it is not clear why the work was stopped to begin with.
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