xAI Activates World’s First Gigawatt-Scale AI Supercluster, Outpacing Competitors

San Francisco, Sunday, 18 January 2026.
Elon Musk’s xAI has officially launched Colossus 2, establishing the world’s first gigawatt-scale AI training supercluster. Unveiled on January 16, 2026, this massive infrastructure project utilizes 555,000 GPUs, significantly outpacing the compute capacity of rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic, who face delays until 2027. The cluster’s energy consumption is equally historic, matching the peak electricity demand of San Francisco. However, this rapid expansion faces immediate headwinds; just days prior, the EPA ruled that xAI violated regulations by operating unpermitted methane gas turbines to power the facility. While Colossus 2 secures a critical lead in the AI arms race for training Grok 4, it highlights the growing tension between rapid technological advancement and environmental compliance.