In an official statement on the SpaceX website, the businessman noted that the merger of these two companies will lead to the creation of an "innovative machine" capable of handling artificial intelligence, rocket manufacturing, internet services, and social media.
Although the details of the agreement are not disclosed, sources familiar with the situation claim that xAI is valued at $125 billion, while SpaceX is valued at $1 trillion, making the latter the most expensive private company in history.
In January, another of Musk's companies, Tesla, a manufacturer of electric vehicles and robots, announced plans to invest $2 billion in xAI.
Musk emphasized that xAI should act as the "conductor of the orchestra" for Tesla factories, where autonomous robots will be involved. He also announced plans to phase out the production of outdated electric vehicle models Model S and X in order to retrofit the factory for the creation of humanoid robots Optimus.
According to available information, SpaceX is considering the possibility of an initial public offering (IPO). Analyst Emily Zheng from Pitchbook believes that the merger of SpaceX and xAI could be a step toward an IPO.
She noted: "The merger of these companies before the IPO will allow SpaceX to demonstrate growth and differentiation prospects to investors."
Space Data Centers
In Musk's announcement about the merger, he expressed the opinion that space can solve the energy shortage problem for companies working in the field of artificial intelligence.The businessman added: "In the long term, using AI in space is the only way to scale."
He also stated his intention to focus on launching satellites that will support artificial intelligence systems in the near future.
The creation of space data centers will open up opportunities for financing and creating self-developing bases on the Moon, a new civilization on Mars, and ultimately, expansion on a universal scale.Musk hopes that data centers located in space will be able to use solar energy, which will reduce their operating costs. To implement this idea, he plans to launch a million satellites into orbit using Starship rockets, which, according to him, will be able to take off every hour, carrying up to 200 tons of payload.
xAI was founded as a division of the social network X (formerly known as Twitter) after Musk acquired the platform in 2022.
By spring 2025, xAI had already become an independent company, and its valuation exceeded that of X.
Later, the startup purchased the social network, with Musk noting that the merger would result in the integration of data, models, computations, distribution, and employees.
Photo on the main page: Reuters.
