cd /news/artificial-intelligence/spacex-s-ai-boom-comes-with-a-perk-f… · home topics artificial-intelligence article
[ARTICLE · art-45518] src=businessinsider.com ↗ pub= topic=artificial-intelligence verified=true sentiment=· neutral

SpaceX's AI boom comes with a perk for Memphis residents: half-price for Starlink

SpaceX is offering Memphis-area residents half-price Starlink internet, waiving hardware costs, as xAI expands its Colossus AI data center in the region. The promotion aims to thank the local community for supporting the facility, which has faced criticism over energy use and emissions.

read2 min views1 publishedJun 30, 2026
SpaceX's AI boom comes with a perk for Memphis residents: half-price for Starlink
Image: Businessinsider (auto-discovered)

SpaceX is offering Memphis-area residents a steep discount on Starlink internet as its AI ambitions continue to expand in the region.

Customers with eligible addresses in the Memphis area can sign up for Starlink at half the standard monthly price, and both new and existing subscribers won't have to pay upfront for hardware, xAI Memphis said on X.

The company linked the promotion to its growing AI infrastructure in the city, home to xAI's Colossus data center.

"The unique capabilities of the Colossus datacenters could not be accomplished without the partnership and support from the local Memphis community." SpaceX's vice president of Starlink engineering, Michael Nicolls, wrote on X on Tuesday.

"Happy to bring affordable and great @SpaceX @Starlink connectivity to our neighbors," Nicolls added.

Elon Musk also promoted the offer on X, posting simply that Starlink would be available at "half price" for residents in the Memphis region.

The promotion comes as xAI rapidly expands its presence in the area. Colossus, launched in 2024, has become one of the world's largest AI computing clusters, powering Grok training and supporting compute needs across Musk's companies. The campus has continued to grow, including an expansion into nearby Southaven, Mississippi.

Meanwhile, the facility has also drawn scrutiny from local residents and environmental advocates. Community groups, including Memphis Community Against Pollution, have criticized the project's energy use and emissions. Business Insider previously reported that the data center relies on enough methane gas generation to power roughly 280,000 homes, and that local organizations have launched efforts to monitor air pollution and urge elected officials to take action.

The Starlink offer automatically applies to eligible addresses, reducing the monthly subscription price by 50% while waiving hardware costs. SpaceX has not announced when the promotion will end and has not responded to a request for comment.

── more in #artificial-intelligence 4 stories · sorted by recency
── more on @spacex 3 stories trending now
sponsored brought to you by zahid.host 4,200+ EU-deployed projects
reading about agents? ship yours in a single git push.

Run your AI side-project on zahid.host

EU-based hosting, git-push deploys, automatic HTTPS, no cold starts. Free tier with a custom domain — perfect for shipping the agent you just read about.

$git push zahid main
Live at https://your-agent.zahid.host
Get free account → Pricing
from €0/mo · no card required
LIVE [news/spacex-s-ai-boom-com…] indexed:0 read:2min 2026-06-30 ·