With a one-year data center development moratorium on the table, the Memphis City Council instead opted for shorter-term pause.

In a contentious meeting, the council voted in favor of a halt to construction of data centers for 135 days. The city has become a hotspot for data centers driven by Elon Musk’s SpaceXAI.

The projects have garnered public opposition against data center development in the region since the construction of SpaceXAI's Colossus 1 data center in 2024. The company has built two other data centers and has two under construction in Memphis and the surrounding region.

The passed ordinance is intended to complement Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s executive order for a 90-day period to study the impacts of data center development.

The one-year moratorium would have paused construction of new data centers, allowing the city to adopt permanent zoning and development regulations and establish disclosure requirements for data center applicants.

It also would have provided the opportunity to study impacts on air quality, electrical infrastructure, water protection, and noise. The moratorium would not have halted existing data center operations.