Until very recently, this was just a rumor. Today, SpaceX just told it as a fact. The aerospace company has released a statement stating that it has acquired xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk. The text does not go into details of the operation, but it does set the tone: it talks about integrating AI, rockets and space connectivity as part of the same strategy. And, although the announcement is forceful, it leaves many important questions in the air that still do not have a public answer.
What has been announced. SpaceX frames the operation as part of a vertical integration. The official text is signed by Elon Musk and has a more ideological than corporate tone, with references to “freedom of expression” and an almost existential mission. But, beyond the story, it leaves out some elements that are important to understand this business movement: there are no figures or details of how the agreement materializes.
The argument is energetic. SpaceX argues that AI is bumping up against increasingly obvious limits: gigantic data centers that require massive amounts of electricity and cooling. In the text it goes so far as to state that the growth of this demand cannot be covered with terrestrial solutions in the near future without generating negative impacts on communities and the environment. It is a reasoning that places the problem on an almost basic infrastructure level, not software. Under that logic, the next step in his story is inevitable: move the computation to where energy is abundant and constant.
Data centers in orbit. The company describes a constellation of satellites that would function as orbital data centers, taking advantage of almost continuous solar energy and, according to its argument, with reduced operating and maintenance costs. The proposal is based on pieces that we already know about its ecosystem: Starlink as a global network and the next generation of satellites capable of connecting directly with mobile phones, without depending on terrestrial towers. The message is clear: they are not just planning to launch more satellites, but to convert the orbit into an extension of their digital infrastructure.
Setting up data centers in space. To this question, the answer is SpaceX. That’s where Starship comes in as the centerpiece of the story. The statement argues that, until now, there has not been a vehicle capable of putting into orbit the amounts of mass that an infrastructure of this size would require, and recalls that even in 2025, a record year for launches, only about 3,000 tons of payload were placed in orbit. According to SpaceX, the deployment of satellites has already driven continuous improvements in Falcon and now they intend to repeat the pattern with Starship, starting with the Starlink V3.
The plan figures: SpaceX is trying to back up its vision with some numbers. It speaks of launches “every hour” and a capacity of 200 tons per flight, a rate that would allow millions of tons to be sent to orbit per year. From there he proposes a calculation: one million annual tons of satellites generating 100 kW of computing power per ton would add 100 gigawatts of AI capacity each year, with the idea of later scaling towards 1 terawatt annually. He also launches a very aggressive deadline, presented as an estimate: in 2 or 3 years, he estimates, the cheapest way to generate AI computing would be to do it in space.
Amazon is negotiating to invest 50 billion in OpenAI. The money would go in through the door and out through the window. ” width=”375″ height=”142″ src=”https://i.blogs.es/e012d0/dima-solomin-nm3243n4ssy-unsplash/375_142.jpeg”/>
An unusual combination. xAI already absorbed X in March 2025, so this move also introduces a social network within the perimeter of what SpaceX is saying it wants to build. The contrast is significant: SpaceX carries an image closely associated with engineering and strategic projects, while Grok has been at the center of criticism for the generation of sexualized images in X. It is a nuance that matters, because it does not only speak of technology, but also of reputation.
The missing part. With this announcement, SpaceX puts on the table an integration that, if completed, would have enormous implications for its technological ecosystem. And here it is convenient to maintain two ideas at the same time. On the one hand, Musk’s career invites us not to underestimate his ability to turn complex bets into real projects. On the other hand, its history is also full of deadlines that are stretched and promises that are reformulated or disappear over time. So we will have to be attentive to the next chapter, which will not be written by the statements, but by the facts.
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