Musk’s SpaceX acquires xAI
February 2 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX said in a statement on Monday. artificial intelligence startup xAI is “merging the rocket and satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot,” in a move aimed at combining Musk’s artificial intelligence and space ambitions.
The merger would represent one of the highest-profit corporate pairings in Silicon Valley, blending a space and defense contractor with a fast-growing artificial intelligence developer whose costs are dominated by chips, data centers and energy.
The deal marks Musk’s effort to merge his fast-growing artificial intelligence efforts with his aviation and satellite-internet empire; It’s betting that shared computing, data, and engineering talent could both accelerate AI development and potentially support long-term goals around space-based data centers.
SpaceX and the AI startup were in talks to merge to bring Musk’s rockets, Starlink satellites, X social media platform and Grok AI chatbot under one roof ahead of a blockbuster IPO planned for later this year, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The combined company is expected to price around $527 per share and will be valued at $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg News reported earlier in the day.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)
