The world’s richest man says combining two of his most notable companies would create “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine”.
SpaceX has announced it has acquired artificial intelligence start-up xAI in a deal that that brings together two companies owned by Elon Musk.
In a statement, Mr Musk said the deal would create “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real-time information and free speech platform”.
The world’s richest man, who also owns Tesla, social media platform X, and satellite communications company Starlink, said the combination would aim to develop AI data centres in space, and called the move “not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI’s mission”.
X, formerly Twitter, was itself bought by xAI last year. Mr Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44bn (£38bn).
A $1trn company
Of the latest deal, Mr Musk wrote: “In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale.
“The only logical solution therefore is to transport these resource-intensive efforts to a location with vast power and space. I mean, space is called ‘space’ for a reason.
“By directly harnessing near-constant solar power with little operating or maintenance costs, these satellites will transform our ability to scale compute.
“It’s always sunny in space.”
The combined company would have a valuation of $1.25trn (£910bn), according to Bloomberg, and the deal comes ahead of SpaceX’s anticipated initial public offering, expected to be announced later this year.
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