Daijiworld Media Network - San Francisco

San Francisco, Feb 3: Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX has acquired his artificial intelligence start-up xAI, the billionaire entrepreneur announced on Monday, marking a significant consolidation of his technology ventures.

Musk shared details of the deal in a note posted by SpaceX and circulated on his social media platform X. xAI already owns and operates the social media network X after Musk merged the two entities last year.

According to a Bloomberg report, the combined SpaceX-xAI entity has been valued at around USD 1.25 trillion, with SpaceX planning an initial public offering later this year. CNBC reported that the merger was completed on Monday.

xAI, whose flagship product Grok is currently under investigation in the European Union over concerns related to its AI image-generation feature, has said it has imposed restrictions limiting image editing. The probe follows allegations that the tool was used to create sexualised images.

In his note, Musk described the merger as the creation of an “innovation engine” that brings together artificial intelligence, rockets, space-based internet and media under one roof. He said the move represents not just a new chapter but “the next book” in the mission of SpaceX and xAI, aimed at advancing humanity’s understanding of the universe.

A SpaceX press release said the merger would eventually enable AI data centres to be placed in space and powered by solar energy. Musk said he expects that within two to three years, generating AI computing power in space could become the lowest-cost option, enabling faster and larger-scale AI training and data processing.

The development comes shortly after SpaceX filed a request with the US Federal Communications Commission seeking approval to deploy and operate a constellation of up to one million satellites designed as orbital data centres with advanced computing capabilities for AI applications.