Feb 2 (Reuters) – Elon Musk's space firm SpaceX said on Monday it has acquired his artificial intelligence startup xAI, combining the rocket-and-satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot in a move aimed at unifying Musk's AI and space ambitions. A merger would represent one of the most high-profit corporate pairings in Silicon Valley, blending a space-and-defense contractor with a rapidly evolving AI developer whose costs are dominated by chips, data centers and energy. The deal illustrates Musk's push to fuse his fast-growing AI efforts with his aerospace and satellite-internet empire, betting that shared computing, data and engineering talent can accelerate both AI development and potentially support longer-term ambitions around space-based data centers. SpaceX and the AI startup were in discussions to merge ahead of a blockbuster public offering planned for later this year, Reuters had reported on Thursday, to bring Musk's rockets, Starlink satellites, the X social media platform and Grok AI chatbot under one roof. The combined company is expected to price shares at about $527 each, and would have a valuation of $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg News had reported earlier in the day. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)
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