New Delhi, June 6 -- SpaceX envisions a future where AI data centers float effortlessly through space, powered by carbon-free solar panels.

For now, the company's data center ambitions are earthbound, and operating them is very resource-intensive. It's causing problems that have exposed the company to legal claims and could hinder its growth.

xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence operation that was absorbed into SpaceX, built a data center in Memphis called Colossus that it says contains the world's largest supercomputer. The company is building two other data centers in the Memphis area, with the whole operation costing tens of billions of dollars.

To get the data centers up and running fast, Musk trucked natural gas turbines to th...