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February 3, 2026<\/p>\n
1 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Elon Musk fuses SpaceX with xAI<\/p>\n Acquiring xAI could boost SpaceX\u2019s plans to launch a one-million-strong satellite constellation to act as an orbital data center network<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n Kevin Lamarque \/Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX has acquired xAI, the artificial intelligence start-up behind the chatbot Grok that is also owned by the tech billionaire. The move consolidates several of Musk\u2019s major ventures, bringing his rockets, social media company X, Grok and SpaceX\u2019s satellite Internet subsidiary Starlink under a single umbrella.<\/p>\n The merger could boost Musk\u2019s plans to power next-generation AI from space using an orbital data center made up of as many as one million satellites. It also catapults the worth of the combined entity to a reported $1.25 trillion.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrent advances in AI are dependent on large terrestrial data centers, which require immense amounts of power and cooling,\u201d read a memo that was signed by Musk and posted to SpaceX\u2019s website on Monday. \u201cGlobal electricity demand for AI simply cannot be met with terrestrial solutions, even in the near term, without imposing hardship on communities and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The memo touted SpaceX\u2019s still in development Starship, which, Musk has claimed, will one day enable hourly launches, each carrying as much as 200 tons of material into orbit. But Starship\u2019s ability to launch satellites into orbit is largely unproven, and the spacecraft\u2019s development is behind schedule. And it remains unclear what form SpaceX\u2019s proposed satellites would take.<\/p>\n Regardless of how SpaceX plans to launch and operate its orbital data center network\u2014the firm has offered scant details\u2014the idea has a grand advantage over Earth-based facilities: the abundance of solar energy. \u201cIt\u2019s always sunny in space!\u201d Musk wrote.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 3, 2026 1 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Elon Musk fuses SpaceX with xAI Acquiring xAI could boost SpaceX\u2019s plans to launch a one-million-strong satellite constellation to act as an orbital data center network By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron Kevin Lamarque \/Pool\/Getty Images Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX has acquired xAI,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[91,22783,1371,73,4070],"class_list":{"0":"post-43629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-elon","9":"tag-fuses","10":"tag-musk","11":"tag-spacex","12":"tag-xai"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/h2>\n