Key points
- “It would be great” if shareholders are offered a chance to invest: Musk
- Says it would depend on “board and shareholder approval”
- Musk seeks a valuation between $170 and $200 billion for xAI in a new funding round
ISLAMABAD: Tesla will give its shareholders the option to invest in artificial intelligence startup xAI, billionaire owner of both companies Elon Musk said on his social media platform X.
“It’s not up to me… We will have a shareholder vote on the matter,” Musk said in response to a social media user suggesting that the electric car maker take a stake in xAI, which recently acquired X.
“If it was up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI long ago,” the world’s richest man said.
According to the Wall Street Journal, another company controlled by Elon Musk, SpaceX, will invest $2 billion into xAI as part of its $5 billion capital raise.
Responding to an X user who cited the WSJ’s news story, Musk said that “it would be great” but would depend on “board and shareholder approval.”
It’s not up to me. If it was up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI long ago.
We will have a shareholder vote on the matter.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2025
Since the launch of xAI — which developed the generative AI assistant Grok — Musk has floated the potential synergies between the AI start-up and his two crown jewels, SpaceX and Tesla.
According to the Financial Times, the businessman is seeking a valuation between $170 and $200 billion for xAI in a new funding round.
Launched in July 2023, xAI is hoping to catch up with its major generative AI competitors, OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude) and Google (Gemini).
The start-up has invested heavily in a gigantic data centre in Memphis, Tennessee, which Musk claims will become the “most powerful AI training system in the world.”
He has purchased another plot of land nearby to create more data centres, which are essential for developing and running large-scale artificial intelligence models, AFP reported.
Expenses far exceeding revenues
According to Bloomberg, xAI is costing over a billion dollars every month as it builds upgraded models, with its expenses far exceeding its revenues.
xAI’s virtual assistant Grok has been the source of a series of controversies.
After an update on July 7, some of the chatbot’s responses praised Adolf Hitler and suggested that people with Jewish surnames were more likely to spread online hate.
Apology for offensive posts
On Saturday, xAI apologised for offensive posts, announcing that it had corrected the instructions that had led, according to the company, to these slip-ups.
According to Reuters, SpaceX has committed $2 billion to xAI as part of a $5 billion equity round, deepening the ties between tech billionaire Elon Musk’s ventures as his artificial intelligence startup races to compete with rival OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
The investment follows xAI’s merger with X and values the combined company at $113 billion, with the Grok chatbot now powering Starlink support and eyed for future integration into Tesla’s Optimus robots, the report added.
