OCTOBER 2024
100,000 Hopper GPUs
NVIDIA reported the original cluster and its Spectrum-X training network.
Read the dated announcement ↗MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE · HISTORICAL HARDWARE JOURNEY
Colossus I
xAI’s AI supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, built around 100,000 NVIDIA Hopper GPUs to train the Grok models.
More about Colossus I
Colossus is xAI’s supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee. NVIDIA reported in October 2024 that it joined 100,000 Hopper GPUs on one Ethernet network to train xAI’s Grok language models.
When
NVIDIA says xAI and NVIDIA built the facility and system in 122 days, and training began 19 days after the first rack arrived. xAI was then doubling it to 200,000 Hopper GPUs. This journey follows that 2024 Supermicro portion, not today’s inventory.
Why it matters
It is a record for build speed as well as size. Its building block, a liquid-cooled Supermicro rack of eight servers and 64 H100 GPUs, shows how a cluster grows from repeated units, and NVIDIA reports its Spectrum-X network kept 95% data throughput at that scale.
Key facts
- Operator
- xAI
- GPUs, October 2024
- 100,000 NVIDIA Hopper (reported)
- Build time
- 122 days (reported)
- Rack
- 8 Supermicro servers, 64 H100 GPUs
NVIDIA · Colossus and Spectrum-X, October 2024Supermicro / ServeTheHome · xAI Colossus case study, December 2024Sources reviewed October 28, 2026
APPROXIMATE EXTERIORDrag to rotate
Opening the 3D model…
Follow heat or data
CONNECT THE SCALES
What moves through the system?
Colossus I · dated milestones
A documented starting point
DECEMBER 2024
Inside the Supermicro installation
The published tour provides the rack and cooling references used in this journey.
Read the case study ↗FEBRUARY 2025
Expansion to 200,000 GPUs
xAI’s timeline reports an expansion. It is separate from the hardware snapshot modeled here.
Read xAI’s timeline ↗Sources & model notes · reviewed October 28, 2026
Approximate exterior from a public aerial of unknown capture date. Hardware lessons use the documented 2024 Supermicro installation.
xAI · Colossus aerial and milestones ↗
Retrieved October 28, 2026; photograph date unknown · The build, aerial photograph
Exterior proportions estimated; no surveyed dimensions. Conflicting current GPU totals are omitted.
NVIDIA · Colossus networking ↗
October 28, 2024 · Announcement and Spectrum-X hardware description
100,000 Hopper GPUs reported at publication; not a current inventory.
Original authored geometry. No private CAD, exact facility floor plan, performance simulation, or current deployment total is implied. Cooling and networking lines show relationships, not surveyed routes.