Musk’s xAI buys third building to expand AI compute power

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xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk, has acquired a third building as part of its effort to significantly expand computing capacity, Musk said on Tuesday. The move is aimed at boosting xAI’s training infrastructure to nearly 2 gigawatts of compute power.

The expansion highlights xAI’s ambition to compete more aggressively with leading AI developers such as OpenAI, which develops ChatGPT, and Anthropic, creator of the Claude chatbot. xAI’s main supercomputer cluster, known as Colossus and located in Memphis, Tennessee, has been described by Musk as the largest in the world.

“xAI has bought a third building called MACROHARDRR,” Musk wrote on X, without revealing the site’s exact location. The name appears to be a play on Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI.

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The Information, which reported the development earlier citing property records and a person familiar with the matter, said the new building is intended to support a third large-scale data centre planned outside Memphis.

According to the report, xAI plans to expand Colossus to house at least 1 million graphics processing units (GPUs). The company is expected to begin converting the newly acquired warehouse into a data centre in 2026. Both the planned facility and a separate expansion known as Colossus 2 are located near a natural gas power plant that xAI is building, alongside access to other power sources.

The rapid build-out of AI infrastructure has drawn criticism from environmental groups, who warn that large data centres consume vast amounts of energy and place strain on local power grids.

SoftBank completes $41 billion investment in OpenAI, deepening bet on AI

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SoftBank Group said it has completed a $41 billion investment in OpenAI, marking one of the largest private funding rounds ever and giving the Japanese group an ownership stake of about 11% in the maker of ChatGPT.

The move underscores SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s increasingly aggressive push into artificial intelligence, which he has described as an “all in” bet. Son is positioning SoftBank to capitalise on booming demand for AI computing power, spanning both software and the physical infrastructure that underpins advanced models.

SoftBank said it completed an additional $22.5 billion investment on Wednesday, following an earlier $7.5 billion injection in April. OpenAI also secured an expanded syndicated co-investment of $11 billion from other backers as part of the round. In March, SoftBank had agreed to invest up to $40 billion into a for-profit OpenAI subsidiary, with the funding structured through a mix of direct capital and syndicated investments.

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The transaction initially valued OpenAI at about $300 billion on a post-money basis. However, a subsequent secondary share sale completed in October pushed OpenAI’s valuation to roughly $500 billion, according to PitchBook data. CNBC first reported the completion of the latest investment earlier in the day.

The deal comes as artificial intelligence has become the central driver of global technology investment, reshaping corporate strategies and investor expectations. OpenAI has emerged as a key beneficiary of that shift, sitting at the heart of an industry-wide surge in AI spending.

OpenAI is also a core participant in “Stargate,” a large-scale, multi-year data centre initiative being developed alongside Oracle and other partners. The project aims to support next-generation AI models and is backed by major investors including SoftBank, further linking the group’s capital deployment to the infrastructure required for future AI growth.

Trump Media unveils plan to distribute new cryptocurrency to shareholders

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Trump Media and Technology Group said on Wednesday it will distribute a new digital token to its shareholders, expanding its push into digital assets as the policy environment for cryptocurrencies grows more supportive in Washington.

Shares of the company, which is linked to U.S. President Donald Trump and operates the social media platform Truth Social, were up about 5% in early trading following the announcement.

Under the plan, shareholders will receive one digital token for each share they hold, the company said. Additional details about the launch are expected in 2026. Trump Media said the token is expected to operate on the Cronos blockchain.

Cryptocurrencies have become an increasingly visible part of the Trump family’s business activities, drawing criticism from opponents who cite potential conflicts of interest. Trump has pledged to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” while his return to the White House in January has coincided with a more favorable climate for the sector. Legislation covering parts of the crypto industry was passed over the summer, and several enforcement actions were dropped.

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During the campaign, Trump courted industry support by branding himself a “crypto president.” His family’s ventures, including World Liberty Financial, have also helped push digital assets further into the mainstream. Just days before his inauguration, Trump launched a meme coin known as $TRUMP, which briefly surged to a market value of more than $14.5 billion before sharply declining.

The White House has dismissed allegations of conflicts of interest, saying Trump’s extensive real estate, media and other business holdings are placed in a trust managed by his children.

The token announcement comes during a broader downturn in the crypto market. Bitcoin is down about 6% so far this year and is on track for its first annual decline since 2022, reflecting a wider retreat from riskier assets as investors reduce exposure to volatility.