The arrival and continued expansion of SpaceXAIin Memphis presents our city with an extraordinary opportunity and an equally important responsibility.
The question before us should not simply be whether we are for or against data centers. That debate is too narrow. The more important question is this.
How do we ensure that one of the largest technological investments in our city's history produces measurable, sustainable benefits for the people and communities of Memphis and Shelby County?
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming one of the world's most consequential industries. Memphis has secured a significant position in that emerging economy through SpaceXAI's Colossus supercomputing operation, however our position must be strengthened significantly.
A new partnership model
With that opportunity should come a new model of corporate community partnership.
Economic development cannot be measured solely by the size of a corporate investment. We must also measure how much opportunity reaches local workers, contractors, businesses, neighborhoods and educational institutions.
Our elected officials, business leaders, community stakeholders and SpacexAI should establish a comprehensive community economic development framework tied to future expansion.
That framework should include substantial investment in roads, bridges and other infrastructure surrounding these facilities. It should support health and community centers, neighborhood revitalization and environmental initiatives particularly in communities carrying the greatest burden from industrial development.
Memphis has already taken an important step through its Community Benefits Ordinance,which directs a portion of property tax revenue from AI data centers toward communities near these facilities. That provides a foundation. We should build upon it.
Water remains a priority
Water must also remain a priority.
The proposedColossus Water Recycling Plant was designed to process millions of gallons of wastewater each day for industrial reuse, reducing demand on the Memphis Sand Aquifer. Completion of this currently paused infrastructure should be among our highest priorities before additional large scale data-center development moves forward in Shelby County.
Economic expansion and environmental responsibility do not have to compete. Memphis should insist upon both.
Accountability should extend to contracting as well.
Companies benefiting from Memphis' infrastructure, workforce and geographic advantages should maintain good standing with vendors and contractors. Future development agreements should establish meaningful goals for participation by local contractors, suppliers, and small and diverse businesses.
We should be able to measure how many Memphis-area businesses receive contracts, how many local residents receive jobs and training, and how much of this historic investment actually circulates through our local economy.
Planning ahead
Government must also plan ahead.
Planning and development agencies, code enforcement, economic-development authorities and, where legally appropriate, agencies responsible for land acquisition should work alongside elected officials, neighborhood leaders and residents to identify appropriate areas for future technological development. Expansion should never occur without meaningful community input and careful consideration of environmental, infrastructure and neighborhood impacts.
Perhaps our greatest opportunity, however, is education.
I propose the creation of a Memphis Technology and Artificial Intelligence Institute, bringing together K-12 educational leaders such as Dr. Vincent Hunter of MSCS and higher education leaders such as Dr. Kennard Brown, former vice chancellor of UTHSC, through a partnership involving Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Southwest Tennessee Community College, Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, and LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, with substantial financial support from SpacexAI and the broader Memphis business community.
Creating an AI Institute in Memphis
The institute could create pathways for local students into careers in artificial intelligence, advanced computing, electrical systems, cybersecurity, data-center operations, engineering and other emerging technologies.
Imagine what this could mean for a young person growing up in Memphis today. Instead of simply watching billions of dollars in technological infrastructure being constructed in their community, that student could be educated and trained to design, operate, maintain and eventually lead the industries being built around them.
That is the difference between hosting economic development and participating in economic development.
Our goal should be clear.
When we look back 10 or 20 years from now, Memphis should not merely be able to say that we housed one of the world's great technological operations. We should be able to say that Memphis residents helped build it, worked in it, supplied it, benefited from it and were educated to lead the industries that followed.
Finally, this moment should not cause us to turn on one another.
Business leaders, environmental advocates, neighborhood residents, educators, elected officials and corporate leaders will not always agree. They do not have to.
But progress will require transparency, accountability and dialogue rather than division.
We should not turn on each other. We should turn to each other.
That is how Memphis can transform technological investment into generational opportunity.
Dr. Joseph B. Kyles, a theologian, behavioral scientist, and human rights advocate working at the intersection of faith, public policy, and economic justice. He is president of the Rainbow Push Coalition Memphis.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How to make AI development, data centers work for Memphis | Opinion
