In his official statement posted on the SpaceX website, Musk noted that the merger of the companies will lead to the creation of an "innovative machine" capable of simultaneously engaging in artificial intelligence, rocket launches, providing internet services, and managing social media.
The details of the deal have not been disclosed. However, sources from the BBC report that xAI is valued at $125 billion, while SpaceX is valued at $1 trillion, making it the most valuable private company in history.
In January of this year, Tesla, another of Musk's companies, announced plans to invest $2 billion in xAI.
At that time, Musk told investors that xAI should become the "conductor of the orchestra" for Tesla factories, where autonomous robots will work. He also announced plans to reduce production of the older Model S and X electric vehicles, intending to retrofit the factory to create humanoid robots called Optimus.
According to recent news, SpaceX is considering going public (IPO). Pitchbook analyst Emily Zheng believes that the merger with xAI could be a preparation for this event.
“Consolidating companies before an IPO gives SpaceX a chance to showcase growth and differentiation opportunities to potential investors,” she said.
Musk, commenting on the merger, expressed the opinion that space technologies could help solve the energy shortage problem for artificial intelligence.
“In the long term, space-based AI is the only way to scale,” he noted.
The entrepreneur added that he intends to focus on launching satellites to support artificial intelligence systems in the near future.
“Creating space data centers will enable funding and supporting autonomous bases on the Moon, a new civilization on Mars, and ultimately expansion to the scale of the entire Universe,” Musk emphasized.
He also expressed hope that space data centers would be able to obtain energy from solar panels with minimal operational costs.
To implement his plans for creating data centers, Musk intends to launch 1 million satellites into orbit using Starship rockets, which, according to him, could be launched every hour and carry up to 200 tons of payload.
However, at this time, Starship rockets are still in the testing phase, and regular commercial flights are still a long way off.
xAI was founded as a division of the social network X (formerly known as Twitter) after Musk purchased the platform in 2022.
By spring 2025, xAI had become an independent company, and its valuation exceeded that of X.
Subsequently, the startup acquired this social network, and Musk announced plans to combine "data, models, computations, distribution, and employees" into a single entity.
xAI's main product is the chatbot Grok, which has recently faced criticism for creating sexualized images of real people.
In this regard, the European Commission and the British regulator Ofcom have launched an investigation.
In January, xAI announced the introduction of restrictions on creating images that may violate legislation.
