What major AI company did SpaceX announce plans to acquire in February 2026?

In February 2026, aerospace company SpaceX announced its plans to acquire xAI, an artificial intelligence firm founded by Elon Musk. This significant all-stock transaction integrated xAI as a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX, creating a combined entity valued at $1.25 trillion. The move was widely reported as a record-setting merger in the technology and aerospace sectors.

Elon Musk established xAI in March 2023 with the ambitious goal of developing a "maximum truth-seeking AI" to comprehend the universe, contrasting with what he described as political biases in other AI models. The company is best known for its generative AI chatbot, Grok, which has been integrated with the social media platform X, also owned by xAI since March 2025. The acquisition by SpaceX was driven by a vision to establish a vertically integrated platform encompassing artificial intelligence, rocket technology, space-based internet services like Starlink, and direct-to-mobile communications.

A key motivation behind this merger is the escalating global demand for AI computing, which is projected to soon exceed the available electricity and cooling infrastructure on Earth. To address this challenge, Musk has articulated a long-term strategy involving space-based data centers that would harness continuous solar energy. SpaceX is actively pursuing regulatory approval to deploy a vast constellation of up to one million satellites designed to function as orbital data centers, with its Starship rocket poised to play a pivotal role in launching these advanced systems. This bold initiative underscores a future where artificial intelligence infrastructure extends beyond terrestrial limitations, potentially even to lunar manufacturing facilities for satellite deployment.