Elon Musk said a primary reason for merging SpaceX with his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is to more effectively build “orbital data centers.” That’s for a far-off future.
For now, xAI has a much more pressing need: cash.
In Monday’s blog post announcing the combination of his two companies, Musk estimated that “within 2 to 3 years, the lowest cost way to generate AI compute will be in space.” But xAI requires immense amounts of money to finance its massive infrastructure buildout as the three-year-old company tries to catch up to Google
, OpenAI and Anthropic in the booming generative AI market.
SpaceX, which is reportedly aiming to go public this year in what could be a record-setting IPO, may represent Musk’s clearest path to landing that capital. The company is looking to raise up to $50 billion at a valuation as high as $1.5 trillion, according to Reuters.
