SpaceX to Acquire xAI in Landmark Deal, Pushing AI Infrastructure Beyond Earth
SpaceX has agreed to acquire artificial intelligence startup xAI, significantly expanding the rocket and satellite firm’s ambitions in data centers, advanced computing, and long-term AI infrastructure.
The transaction values SpaceX at roughly $1 trillion and xAI at about $250 billion, according to multiple media reports, making it the largest merger and acquisition deal on record. SpaceX was already the world’s most valuable privately held company, last valued at approximately $800 billion during a recent insider share sale.
The deal brings together SpaceX’s launch and satellite operations with xAI’s rapidly growing artificial intelligence platform, giving Elon Musk tighter control over the infrastructure, power supply, and computing capacity increasingly critical to AI development.
SpaceX said the acquisition reflects expectations that global demand for AI computing will soon exceed the available electricity and cooling capacity on Earth. Musk has outlined plans to explore space-based data centers, powered by near-constant solar energy, as a way to bypass terrestrial constraints.
“In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale,” Musk said, describing a vision that leverages orbital infrastructure to support future computing needs.
The merger comes as SpaceX prepares a potential initial public offering later this year.
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