Musk relaunches Artificial Intelligence: SpaceX invests $2 billion in xAI to challenge OpenAI

SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk , has decided to invest $2 billion in xAI, Musk's new artificial intelligence company. The online edition of the Wall Street Journal reported this, citing sources close to the investors. The investment represents nearly half of xAI's latest capital raise, which recently raised funds to boost the development of Grok , its AI-powered chatbot, similar to the more common ChatGpt.

Elon Musk, who has long been in open competition with OpenAI—a company he co-founded in 2015 before splitting from it—is deploying strategic resources from several companies within his empire to grow xAI. In early 2024, Musk merged xAI with X (formerly Twitter), creating synergy between the research lab and the social media platform. This move has allowed for greater visibility for the Grok chatbot, which is directly integrated into the platform and accessible to premium subscribers.

The merger valued the new company at $113 billion, a figure that underscores Musk's ambition to position himself among the global leaders in artificial intelligence. SpaceX's investment, which represents the aerospace company's first known contribution to xAI, is part of a larger $5 billion fundraising round led by Morgan Stanley . For SpaceX, it is also one of the largest investments ever made in a company outside its core business.