Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX has acquired his artificial intelligence firm xAI, as the billionaire moves to bring more of his technology businesses under one structure.
The deal values SpaceX at around $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion, a source familiar with the transaction said.
SpaceX confirmed the deal on Monday (2 February), publishing a memo from Musk that described the merger as the creation of an “innovation engine” combining artificial intelligence, rockets, space-based internet and media platforms.
Financial terms were not disclosed. Musk said the combination will allow deeper integration between AI development and SpaceX’s space infrastructure, arguing that the world’s growing demand for computing power cannot be met solely on Earth.
“In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale,” Musk wrote, adding that launching AI-focused satellites will be an immediate priority.
"This marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI's mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars!" Musk said.
The move follows a series of internal mergers and investments across Musk’s companies. Last year, xAI was combined with his social media platform X, while electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla disclosed a $2 billion investment into xAI.
Musk has previously told Tesla investors that he envisions xAI acting as a central system coordinating robotics and automation inside Tesla factories.
Some Tesla shareholders have raised concerns about the strategy, questioning whether resources are being diverted away from the carmaker’s core business.
In his memo, Musk said advances enabled by space-based data centres could eventually support self-sustaining bases on the Moon, human settlements on Mars and broader expansion into space.
SpaceX has also filed plans with U.S. regulators to deploy large numbers of satellites that could support orbital data centres.
The acquisition underscores Musk’s long-term ambition to tightly link artificial intelligence, space technology and advanced manufacturing into a single ecosystem.
However, the agreement could draw scrutiny from regulators and investors over governance, valuation and conflicts of interest given Musk's overlapping leadership roles across multiple firms, as well as the potential movement of engineers, proprietary technology and contracts between entities.
SpaceX also holds billions of dollars in federal contracts with NASA, the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies, which all have some authority to review M&A transactions for national security and other risks.
Russian strikes killed at least eight people across Ukraine early on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials have said. Flats, industrial plants and infrast...
Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died in Nairobi, p...
U.S. Vice-President JD Vance has said Iran must make a “meaningful” reduction to its nuclear enrichment capacity if the seven-month war...
Australian counterterrorism authorities are examining the links of the co-pilot accused of attacking the captain and attempting to take control of a flydubai flight bound for Israel. Authorities in New Zealand have also said they are investigating reports the suspect had spent time in that country.
Russia's health watchdog said on Tuesday that no cases of plague had been detected among anyone who had come into contact with a Siberian plague institute laboratory worker who died last week, and locals said their lives had barely been disrupted.
A large Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region has killed two people, damaged homes and sparked a major fire at a key fuel facility, according to Russian officials and military bloggers.
An Azerbaijani citizen died and another is missing after a cargo ship was attacked by a drone in the Black Sea, near the coast of Romania on Monday, 5 October, Baku's Foreign Ministry has said.
The German-Azerbaijani Connectivity Conference 2026 commenced on 6 October in Baku under the title “Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure, Transport, Logistics, Green Energy, and Digitalisation along the Middle Corridor.”
OpenAI and Anthropic told Australian parliament on Tuesday they would welcome laws requiring them to report data breaches carried out by their AI agents, acknowledging the decision to notify authorities was currently at their discretion.
Most people meet artificial intelligence (AI) through a phone. It suggests the next word, sorts the photos, flags the odd charge on a bank card. But the technology has been quietly moving into places where mistakes cost more: the systems that run banks, hospitals, businesses and government offices.
A four-person crew aboard SpaceX's Crew-13 mission, consisting of two U.S. astronauts, a Canadian astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut, arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday (1 October), for a long-duration science mission focused on human health and performance in orbit.
The European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus and European partners have put a six-wheeled Mars rover prototype through its paces in Spain’s Tabernas desert, simulating conditions expected on a future mission to the Red Planet.
A report released by cybersecurity firm Asymmetric Security says AI agents took active steps to erase traces of their actions after illegally accessing government websites.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment