On February 2, 2026, US local time, SpaceX officially announced the full acquisition of the artificial intelligence startup xAI. This move represents a significant step by Elon Musk to vertically integrate his commercial empire, with the demand for building AI data centers in space being a key factor driving this merger. In an internal memo made public by SpaceX, Musk wrote, "SpaceX's acquisition of xAI is aimed at building a 'vertically integrated innovation engine' that spans the Earth's surface and space. This engine will deeply integrate artificial intelligence, launch vehicles, space-based internet, direct-to-cell communications, and real-time information platforms." He stated that this merger marks a new chapter for both missions: leveraging space-based energy networks to construct "stellar-grade" AI computing infrastructure, thereby breaking through the physical limitations that Earth's energy supply imposes on computational expansion. Neither SpaceX nor xAI disclosed the specific terms of the merger agreement.
A Trillion-Dollar Unicorn is Born. Musk has previously expressed his intention to develop space-based data centers on multiple occasions. In the memo, he indicated that current AI development has already encountered physical limits, stating that "global electricity demand cannot be met by terrestrial solutions even in the short term." He predicts that within the next 2 to 3 years, space will become the lowest-cost location for generative AI computing power. Founded in 2002, SpaceX is now the world's largest commercial rocket launch service provider, possessing capabilities in manufacturing, launching, recovering, and reusing launch vehicles. Concurrently, SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet project, which provides internet connectivity to ground terminals via a low Earth orbit satellite constellation, and is developing the Starship rocket. Starship is intended not only for Mars and Moon exploration but also for high-capacity satellite launch missions, with full reusability targeted for demonstration in 2026. Success in this endeavor could potentially reduce the cost of space exploration by a factor of 100. xAI was founded in 2023 as an artificial intelligence research entity established by Musk, who describes its mission as "understanding the true nature of the universe" and maintains technological synergy with the X platform (formerly Twitter), Tesla, and SpaceX. In 2023, xAI launched its first large language model, Grok-1, demonstrating unique real-time information processing capabilities. In 2024, xAI built and deployed the super-large-scale training cluster Colossus, continuously expanding it to a scale of hundreds of thousands of GPUs for training and iterating the Grok series of models. On January 6, 2026, xAI completed a $20 billion funding round, announcing ambitions to build the world's largest GPU cluster with the support of major strategic investors Nvidia and Cisco. While bolstering its position in the AI computing race, xAI also announced that the combined monthly active users of social media platform X and the Grok chatbot had reached 600 million. The merger of these two super-unicorns heralds the birth of a trillion-dollar privately held giant. SpaceX's valuation had already climbed to approximately $800 billion during an employee stock sale in December 2025, seen as a precursor to a potential IPO later this year. Meanwhile, xAI had just announced the completion of its $20 billion funding round in January 2026, achieving a post-money valuation exceeding $230 billion. Separate reports suggest the combined entity's valuation could reach $1.25 trillion (equivalent to over 7 trillion yuan). This scale not only immediately places the new entity into the global "trillion-dollar club" but also elevates it to become the world's highest-valued private company. It is noteworthy that Musk's companies have previously had financial cross-holdings; SpaceX invested $2 billion in xAI last year, and Tesla also agreed last month to invest the same amount in xAI.
Space-Based AI Data Centers to Solve the Energy Bottleneck. However, in the memo explaining SpaceX's rationale for acquiring xAI, Musk continued his characteristic grand, science-fiction-like narrative style, dedicating more篇幅 to depicting an ultimate vision related to human civilization, with a focus on building AI data centers in space. Musk stated that the global electricity demand of artificial intelligence cannot be met by terrestrial data centers, and that space technology is the only long-term pathway to scaling AI. "The evolution of current AI technology is highly dependent on large terrestrial data centers, which have staggering demands for energy consumption and heat dissipation. Even in the short term, Earth-based energy solutions alone are utterly incapable of filling the global AI electricity gap, unless at the cost of sacrificing community interests and environmental damage." Based on this, he proposed relocating resource-intensive computing tasks to space to reduce costs, noting that space offers nearly constant solar energy without expensive land operations or cooling maintenance costs. By launching orbital data centers composed of millions of satellites, solar energy could be directly converted into computing power. "I estimate that within 2 to 3 years, space will become the lowest-cost location for generative AI computing power," Musk asserted. This cost advantage would enable companies to train models at an unprecedented scale and speed, accelerating breakthroughs in physics and technological inventions. Reflecting on 2025, Musk noted that although it set a historical record for human orbital launch payload mass (approximately 3,000 tons), there remains a vast gap compared to the "million-ton level" launch capacity required for establishing space data centers. It is precisely this demand that has driven the Falcon rocket to achieve high-frequency reusability. Musk also stated that this year, Starship will begin deploying the more capable V3 version of Starlink satellites, with a single launch capacity 20 times greater than that of Falcon rockets launching V2 satellites. To deploy the massive space data centers, Starship's launch frequency will be pushed to the extreme – targeting one launch per hour, with a payload of 200 tons per launch. Musk's calculations show that if 1 million tons of satellites are launched into orbit annually, and each ton of payload generates 100 kilowatts (KW) of computing power, then 100 gigawatts (GW) of new AI computing capacity could be added each year, without requiring ongoing operational maintenance. Musk believes launching 1 terawatt (TW) worth of satellites per year from Earth is entirely feasible. Musk also revealed that while the current focus is on launching AI satellites from Earth, Starship's in-orbit refueling capability will support the construction of a permanent lunar base. In the future, SpaceX plans to establish a permanent base on the Moon, utilizing lunar resources to manufacture satellites and launch them directly into deep space using an "Electromagnetic Mass Driver." He predicted that, combined with lunar manufacturing, it might be possible to deploy 500 to 1,000 terawatts (TW) of AI satellites into deep space annually in the future. All these efforts ultimately serve to realize Musk's "Mars dream." "Once we truly establish space-based data centers, the capabilities we unlock will generate funding that can support building a self-sustaining base on the Moon, establishing a full civilization on Mars, and, in the longer term, propelling humanity's expansion into the cosmos." Recently, SpaceX has been active in advancing its "space-based computing" project. On January 30 local time, the company formally submitted an application to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a system named the "Orbital Data Center System." The filing disclosed that SpaceX proposes deploying up to 1 million satellites in low Earth orbit, "equipped with unprecedented computing power," specifically for running artificial intelligence models. SpaceX emphasized in the application that space will become the lowest-cost, highest-efficiency region for AI computing infrastructure construction within the coming years. This application is currently pending FCC review. Simultaneously, SpaceX's listing process is also accelerating. Reports indicate that, benefiting from the maturity of its Starlink business, SpaceX achieved revenue of approximately $15-16 billion in 2025, with net profit reaching as high as $8 billion. Based on this, some investment bank analyses project that SpaceX's potential fundraising scale at IPO could exceed $50 billion, with the company's overall valuation potentially surpassing $1.5 trillion, potentially making it one of the largest Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) globally. Further market speculation suggests that SpaceX is planning to time its listing around Musk's 55th birthday (June 28, 2026), marking another milestone in his business career.
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