Elon Musk’s SpaceX bought Elon Musk’s xAI, and filed plans to launch a million “orbital data center” satellites.
The $1.25 trillion merger represents two major bets, Ars Technica’s space editor wrote: That AI is not going anywhere, and space-based computing power will be cost-competitive — Musk himself told employees it would be “within two or three years.”
Yet according to The Information’s co-executive editor, the decision also shows that Musk faces “the same financial realities the leaders of other AI startups face: It’s very difficult to compete in AI development with deep-pocketed tech giants.”
Indeed, cloud-computing giant Oracle borrowed $25 billion in order to provide compute for OpenAI, with analysts warning that its huge debt was weighing on its stock.