New York: SpaceX is exploring deals with other companies helmed by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, leaving investors working through permutations between space, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence to analyze which combination makes the most sense.
The rocket maker is in discussions to merge with xAI ahead of a blockbuster public offering planned for this year, reported on Thursday. The combination would bring Musk’s rockets, Starlink satellites, X social media platform and Grok chatbot under one roof, according to a person briefed on the matter and two regulatory filings.
The Paper Fuel could not determine the deal’s value, timing or primary rationale. SpaceX is also considering a merger with Musk’s electric vehicle maker Tesla, Bloomberg reported. “I think it’s highly likely that (xAI) ends up with one of the two parties,” said Tesla shareholder Gene Munster, who is managing partner at xAI investor Deepwater Asset Management. Musk, the world’s richest man, is CEO of SpaceX and artificial intelligence company xAI, which controls X. He also runs Tesla, tunnel company The Boring Co and neurotechnology firm Neuralink.
“What’s important for Elon is to have a massive vision that’s way out there that he’s early on,” Munster said. A compelling prospect would be Tesla taking xAI which would improve the EV maker’s robot and self-driving car plans, he said. Predictions hub Polymarket late on Thursday put the chance of a SpaceX-xAI merger by mid-year at 48% and Tesla-xAI merger at 16%. Musk, SpaceX, xAI and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Tesla’s share price rose 3% in after-hours trade.
SpaceX plans to go public some time this year with a valuation likely above $1 trillion, Reuters and other media reported. It is the world’s most-valuable privately held company – at $800 billion in a recent private share sale. xAI was valued at $230 billion in November, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tesla’s market capitalization is $1.4 trillion. For SpaceX, a massive deal may complicate its IPO but add momentum to efforts to launch data centers into orbit, a key goal in the escalating AI race against the likes of OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google.
