![\"Elon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0fd9e7c0a1a3193d7639f8bce62cf28d.jpeg\")
Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX has acquired his social media and artificial intelligence business xAI in a deal that unites much of his business empire – Hannibal Hanschke-Pool \/ Getty Images <\/p>\n Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX has acquired his social media and artificial intelligence business xAI in a deal that unites much of his business empire – Hannibal Hanschke-Pool \/ Getty Images <\/p>\n
When Elon Musk declared his intention to buy Twitter<\/a>, his friends and allies were quick to rally behind his $44bn (\u00a332bn) bid.<\/p>\n \u201cA billion or whatever you recommend,\u201d Larry Ellison, the billionaire Oracle founder, messaged Musk at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d recommend maybe $2bn or more,\u201d Musk replied.<\/p>\n Other notable investors included Marc Andreessen\u2019s Andreessen Horowitz, Qatar, Saudi Arabia\u2019s Kingdom Holdings and hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet once the deal was completed in 2022, it didn\u2019t take long for Musk\u2019s social media gamble to unravel<\/a>.<\/p>\n By reinstating controversial accounts and hailing a new era of free speech, Twitter \u2013 later renamed X by Musk \u2013 saw its valuation plunge as advertisers fled and revenues fell.<\/p>\n However, the tech billionaire\u2019s allies are now about to have their loyalty repaid following a series of deals and a planned $1.5tn stock market listing.<\/p>\n It was last year that Musk combined Twitter with xAI, the business behind his Grok AI chatbot, valuing the social media site at $30bn.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s richest man then revealed plans on Monday<\/a> to merge his emboldened xAI business with his rocket company, SpaceX.<\/p>\n The merger, already dubbed the biggest in history, will pave the way for a proposed float that is expected to value the businesses at $1.5 trillion. And investors in xAI will receive a slice of that pie.<\/p>\n \u201cThis marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI\u2019s mission,\u201d Musk said on Monday. \u201cScaling to make a sentient sun to understand the universe and extend the light of \u200dconsciousness to the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Musk, the venture will ultimately launch a fleet of up to one million data centre satellites aboard his SpaceX rockets.<\/p>\n These satellites will be boosted by solar power, with Musk claiming he could ultimately launch one terawatt of computing power into space.<\/p>\n In a blog post, he said that within three years, space would be the cheapest way to generate AI computing power \u2013 helping to train a future AI superintelligence and allowing his businesses to overtake rivals such as OpenAI<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis cost-efficiency alone will enable innovative companies to forge ahead in training their AI models and processing data at unprecedented speeds and scales,\u201d Musk wrote, \u201caccelerating breakthroughs in our understanding of physics and invention of technologies to benefit humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Musk is expected to list his combined SpaceX business later this year, potentially as early as June, raising around $50bn from investors in the process.<\/p>\n That is good news for those who backed his Twitter deal in 2022 and for others who have ploughed billions of dollars into xAI, which burnt through an estimated $7.8bn last year.<\/p>\n However, the scale of Musk\u2019s expenditure on its large language model has since raised concerns over the rationale for Musk\u2019s SpaceX merger.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rationale for this deal is simply that xAI needs more money,\u201d says Tim Farrar, a Silicon Valley-based analyst at TMF Associates.<\/p>\n \u201cHe gets to monetise his accidental purchase of Twitter and takes an AI share hype lift,\u201d another industry source says. \u201cStill, I wouldn\u2019t bet against him.\u201d<\/p>\n SpaceX and Starlink have so far been kept separate from Musk\u2019s turbulent leadership of X \u2013 which he has used to amplify his own political views<\/a>.<\/p>\n This has included promoting support for Donald Trump and backing a string of far-Right candidates across Europe.<\/p>\n Closer to home, he also claimed that Britain is on the brink of civil war<\/a>.<\/p>\n