SpaceX Acquires xAI to Enable Solar-Powered, Space-Based AI

SpaceX has acquired xAI, a move that Elon Musk, the owner of the two companies, said will enable solar-powered, space-based artificial intelligence, in part by using designs and strategies developed around SpaceX’s existing broadband satellite systems.

Musk announced the acquisition in a Monday (Feb. 2) update on the SpaceX website, noting that the deal brings together AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the social media platform X.

Currently, advances in AI are dependent on terrestrial data centers that within the near term will demand more electricity than terrestrial solutions can provide without imposing hardships on communities and the environment, according to the update.

In the long term, space-based AI will solve this problem by harnessing the sun’s energy, per the update.

“By directly harnessing near-constant solar power with little operating or maintenance costs, these satellites will transform our ability to scale compute,” Musk said in the update. “It’s always sunny in space! Launching a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization, one that can harness the Sun’s full power, while supporting AI-driven applications for billions of people today and ensuring humanity’s multi-planetary future.”

Launching a million tons a year of satellites generating 100kW of compute power per ton would add 100 gigawatts of AI capacity annually, with no ongoing operational or maintenance needs, and generating AI compute in space will be the lowest cost way to generate compute within two to three years, according to the update.

“This cost-efficiency alone will enable innovative companies to forge ahead in training their AI models and processing data at unprecedented speed and scales, accelerating breakthroughs in our understanding of physics and invention of technologies to benefit humanity,” Musk said in the update.

It was reported Friday (Jan. 30) that Musk was considering a sweeping corporate restructuring that could bring together some of his companies, and that one option was a merger between SpaceX and xAI. The report said the idea fits a broader effort to tie together Musk’s diverse portfolio.

Musk announced in March that xAI acquired X, bringing together the companies’ data, models, compute, distribution and talent. “This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach,” Musk said at the time in a post on X.