{"id":210123,"date":"2026-02-04T16:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/elon-musks-spacex-merges-with-xai\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T19:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:15:10","slug":"elon-musks-spacex-merges-with-xai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/elon-musks-spacex-merges-with-xai\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX merges with xAI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/billionaires\/elon-musks-spacex-merges-with-xai-in-bid-to-launch-ai-data-centres-in-space\/\">Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX merges with xAI<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/billionaires\/elon-musks-spacex-merges-with-xai-in-bid-to-launch-ai-data-centres-in-space\/\">https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/billionaires\/elon-musks-spacex-merges-with-xai-in-bid-to-launch-ai-data-centres-in-space\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-02-04 16:50:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.forbes.com.au\">www.forbes.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublished on\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFebruary 5, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-elon-musk-s-spacex-acquired-the-billionaire-s-artificial-intelligence-startup-xai-according-to-a-monday-statement-consolidating-two-musk-owned-companies-under-one-roof-as-xai-looks-to-build-a-space-based-competitive-edge-against-rivals-like-openai-google-meta-and-more\">Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX acquired the billionaire\u2019s artificial intelligence startup xAI, according to a Monday statement, consolidating two Musk-owned companies under one roof as xAI looks to build a space-based competitive edge against rivals like OpenAI, Google, Meta and more.<\/h5>\n<p>The merger was announced Monday afternoon. (Photo by Michael Gonzalez\/Getty Images)<br \/>Photo by Michael Gonzalez\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Takeaways<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Musk said the acquisition would be the first step in bringing data centers, which are needed to train and develop artificial intelligence, to space, saying electricity demand for AI on Earth \u201ccannot be met with terrestrial solutions, even in the near term, without imposing hardship on communities and the environment.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The merger brings xAI and its subsidiary social media platform X under the SpaceX banner, with Musk already the CEO of the aerospace firm and AI startup.<\/li>\n<li>Musk estimated in the next two to three years, the most cost-effective way to build processing power for AI will be in space, claiming the use of near-constant solar power would involve \u201clittle operating or maintenance costs.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>A recent\u00a0Reuters\u00a0report noted xAI shares could be exchanged for shares in SpaceX under the deal, adding some xAI executives may have the option to receive cash instead of SpaceX stock.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Big Number<\/h5>\n<p>$1.25 trillion. That is the estimated valuation for the combined SpaceX company, according to\u00a0Bloomberg.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Forbes Valuation<\/h5>\n<p>We estimate Musk\u2019s net worth at $768.4 billion, making him the wealthiest person in the world and placing him well ahead of Google cofounders Larry Page ($281.1 billion) and Sergey Brin ($259.3 billion).<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Background<\/h5>\n<p>The merger marks the latest instance of a Musk-controlled company absorbing another firm led by the billionaire. Last March, xAI purchased X in a $33 billion all-stock deal,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/billionaires\/elon-musks-spacex-merges-with-xai-in-bid-to-launch-ai-data-centres-in-space\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX merges with xAI https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/news\/billionaires\/elon-musks-spacex-merges-with-xai-in-bid-to-launch-ai-data-centres-in-space\/ Publish Date: 2026-02-04 16:50:00 Source Domain: www.forbes.com.au Published&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":210124,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.forbes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0x0.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-210123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210125,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210123\/revisions\/210125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}