SpaceX to invest US$2b into xAI: WSJ
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Elon Musk’s SpaceX will invest USD2 billion ($3.04 billion) into xAI as the artificial intelligence startup ramps up efforts to compete with OpenAI, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The numbers: The SpaceX investment will form part of the USD5 billion equity round announced by Morgan Stanley in June and marks the rocket maker’s first known investment into xAI to date.
The investment round follows the merger of xAI with Musk’s social media company X which valued the new company at USD113 billion. The merger was designed to expand the reach of xAI’s chatbot Grok across the X platform.
The context: Musk has focused his attention on improving Grok since leaving his post at the head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency in May. xAI released the latest version of Grok on Wednesday last week, calling it “the smartest AI in the world,” despite having struggle to gain close to the success achieved by rival OpenAI.
The release of Grok 4 came amid controversy as the AI tool posted racist and antisemitic posts in response to users on the X platform. xAI has since said that it has taken steps to address the issues.
In response to a post on X about whether Musk’s EV maker Tesla would also invest in xAI, Musk responded on Sunday: “It would be great, but subject to board and shareholder approval.”
The sources: Wall Street Journal, Capital Brief
