Brenda Kanana
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is nearing the completion of a $6 billion funding round. As reported by CNBC, this financial injection will bring the company’s valuation up to $50 billion.
The funding comprises $5 billion from the Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and the remaining $1 billion from other investors, some of whom are looking to increase their stakes. This large investment is expected to help xAI improve its technology. A large part of the raised money will be used to buy 100,000 Nvidia chips to enhance the computing capabilities of the firm. These resources will also assist Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system, which is connected to xAI’s Memphis-based supercomputer.
xAI started operations in July 2023 with the aim of understanding the universe using artificial intelligence. The Grok chatbot launched in November remains one of the biggest updates for this messaging app. Created in only two months, Grok is a real time internet information retrieval system that was based on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This positions it against ChatGPT, Bard, and Claude, which shows the increasing role of xAI in the AI space.
SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace company, is also planning to increase its valuation. According to sources, the company is to conduct a tender offer in the following month, offering the current shareholders the opportunity to sell their shares at around $135. This would raise its market capitalization to $250 billion from $210 billion earlier this year. SpaceX remains in the news for new initiatives it is undertaking, such as a planned test of its Starship rocket.
Musk leverages political influence
This funding comes at a critical political juncture in the United States as a new President is elected into office, Donald Trump. Elon Musk, a recent addition to Trump’s advisory board is in a vantage position to influence the tech policies of the administration.
The new government wants to cancel Biden’s AI executive orders that Trump’s team accuses of stifling innovation. However, the administration plans to support the freedom of speech and human-oriented AI advancement.
Since valuations are so critical to Tesla’s success, Musk’s relationships with investors in Qatar and Saudi Arabia are pivotal. Musk has also supported the simplification of the rules that govern self-driving cars and space travel, bringing federal rules in line with the goals of Tesla, xAI, and SpaceX. Tesla, Musk’s only publicly traded company, has also had its returns from Musk’s strategies as it recently hit a $1tn valuation.
