Elon Musk merges SpaceX with xAI (and X)

Feb 03, 2026 04:53 AM - 4 months ago 113182

Jay Peters

is a elder newsman covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge successful 2019 aft astir 2 years astatine Techmeme.

Elon Musk is merging 2 of the companies that he leads, SpaceX and xAI (which besides owns X), into one. According to an announcement from Musk:

SpaceX has acquired xAI to shape the astir ambitious, vertically-integrated invention motor connected (and off) Earth, pinch AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile instrumentality communications and the world’s foremost real-time accusation and free reside platform. This marks not conscionable the adjacent chapter, but the adjacent book successful SpaceX and xAI’s mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and widen the ray of consciousness to the stars!

Current advances successful AI are limited connected ample terrestrial information centers, which require immense amounts of powerfulness and cooling. Global energy request for AI simply cannot beryllium met pinch terrestrial solutions, moreover successful the adjacent term, without imposing hardship connected communities and the environment.

In the agelong term, space-based AI is evidently the only measurement to scale. To harness moreover a millionth of our Sun’s power would require complete a cardinal times much power than our civilization presently uses!

The only logical solution truthful is to carrier these resource-intensive efforts to a location pinch immense powerfulness and space. I mean, abstraction is called “space” for a reason.

As portion of the announcement, Musk discusses the request for a caller constellation of satellites designed for AI compute:

My estimate is that wrong 2 to 3 years, the lowest costs measurement to make AI compute will beryllium successful space. This cost-efficiency unsocial will alteration innovative companies to forge up successful training their AI models and processing information astatine unprecedented speeds and scales, accelerating breakthroughs successful our knowing of physics and invention of technologies to use humanity.

This caller constellation will build upon the well-established abstraction sustainability creation and operational strategies, including end-of-life disposal, that person proven successful for SpaceX’s existing broadband outer systems.

He besides claims that:

The capabilities we unlock by making space-based information centers a reality will money and alteration self-growing bases connected the Moon, an full civilization connected Mars and yet description to the Universe.

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