Why Elon Musk is sleeping in a trailer for over 10 days
Instead of staying in a luxury mansion or high-end hotel, Musk has reportedly been sleeping in an Airstream trailer for more than 10 days while staying close to xAI’s expanding Colossus supercomputer facility. He has not revealed which Airstream model he is using, although some compact models include a sleeping area, kitchen, and bathroom in about 16 feet of space. The company began construction in 2024 and reportedly completed the initial build in just 122 days. The scale of Colossus has also created additional computing capacity that xAI has commercialised. I remember thinking, ‘I’m like on the ragged edge of sanity.’” Musk also slept at Twitter’s office after buying the company in 2022. He bought a Bel Air mansion for $17 million in 2012, featuring seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a tennis court and a two-storey library. He also owned a $32 million Mediterranean-style estate in Silicon Valley and purchased actor Gene Wilder’s former home in 2013. In 2020, Musk sold several of his properties and moved to Texas with his then-partner Claire Boucher, known as Grimes.
In late July, the company announced plans for a fourth data centre, called Minihard, adding to its growing infrastructure network. The Airstream is not the first time Musk has chosen to stay close to a major business project.
Musk revealed his new “palace” while recording an episode of the All-In podcast with SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell. Musk said during the podcast that he was staying in his new “palace” in Memphis. He’s in Memphis, helping build buildings,” she said during the interview. Musk and his brother Kimbal slept in their Palo Alto office for six months while building Zip2 in the 1990s, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography. His approach became particularly intense during Tesla’s Model 3 production push in 2017 and 2018. “It was a frenzy of insanity,” he told Isaacson of that time. He claimed a couch in the company’s seventh-floor library while working on changes to the platform, later saying the company was in a “code-red situation.” Musk’s preference for basic accommodation during work-intensive periods contrasts with the expensive properties he has owned.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has a rather unusual new home in Memphis, Tennessee. The trailer is parked near xAI’s massive infrastructure project, letting Musk stay close to the company’s operations as it races to expand its computing capacity. For someone whose wealth is measured in hundreds of billions of dollars, choosing a compact camper as a temporary home highlights Musk’s long-standing habit of staying unusually close to major projects when he is personally involved. Gwynne Shotwell described Musk’s decision to stay in Memphis as typical of his approach to major projects. “This is Elon, by the way, doing what people don’t believe he does. He sleeps on the factory floor. The trailer gives Musk a base close to xAI’s operations as the company continues expanding its physical infrastructure in the city. Musk is in Memphis as xAI expands Colossus, its giant supercomputer facility built to provide computing power for Grok. The company has struck deals to provide excess capacity to Google and Anthropic. xAI is continuing to expand its Memphis footprint. Musk later continued sleeping under his desk while preparing to launch X.com, the online bank that eventually became PayPal. “We were getting four or five hours’ sleep, often on the floor. They lived in a small house near SpaceX’s Starbase facility. Get the latest technology news and updates. Download the TOI App.