SpaceX explores merger with xAI as Elon Musk positions the rocket maker for a high profile public listing.
SpaceX is exploring potential mergers with other companies led by Elon Musk, prompting investors to assess how businesses spanning space, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence could be combined ahead of a highly anticipated public listing.
The rocket maker is in discussions to merge with artificial intelligence company xAI before a blockbuster initial public offering planned for this year, Reuters reported on Thursday. Such a deal would bring SpaceX, Starlink, X and the Grok chatbot under one corporate structure, according to a person familiar with the matter and two regulatory filings. Reuters could not establish the potential valuation, timing or strategic rationale of the talks. SpaceX is also weighing a possible merger with Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla, Bloomberg reported.
Market speculation has intensified as investors attempt to identify which combination would offer the strongest long term logic. Tesla shareholder Gene Munster, managing partner at xAI investor Deepwater Asset Management, said it was highly likely that xAI would ultimately combine with either SpaceX or Tesla. He added that integrating xAI with Tesla could enhance the carmaker’s ambitions in robotics and self-driving technology.
Musk is chief executive of SpaceX and xAI, which controls X, and also leads Tesla, The Boring Company and Neuralink. Prediction platform Polymarket on Thursday placed the probability of a SpaceX xAI merger by mid year at 48%, compared with 16% for a Tesla xAI deal.
SpaceX is expected to list this year at a valuation exceeding $1 trillion, having been valued at about $800 billion in a recent private share sale. While a major merger could complicate the IPO, it may also strengthen SpaceX’s push to deploy data centres in orbit as competition intensifies in the global AI race.
