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Musk’s xAI Eyes $170-$200 Billion Valuation in Upcoming Funding Round, Financial Times Reports

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Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI is reportedly preparing to raise additional capital in a funding round that could value the firm between $170 billion and $200 billion, according to the Financial Times, citing sources close to the discussions. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is expected to play a significant role in the round, holding an indirect stake in xAI through its investment in Kingdom Holdings Company, which has put $800 million into the AI startup.

The discussions are still preliminary, and details may evolve, the report noted. Musk himself responded on X, stating that xAI is not currently seeking funding and has sufficient capital. PIF did not immediately comment on the report.

Previously, in June, Morgan Stanley disclosed that xAI completed a $5 billion debt raise along with a separate $5 billion strategic equity investment. The company is aggressively expanding its AI infrastructure with new data centers amid increasing competition in the sector.

xAI acquired X (formerly Twitter) in March, valuing the AI firm at $80 billion and X at $33 billion. Musk founded xAI in July 2023 to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which recently announced plans to raise up to $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation.

According to projections shared by Morgan Stanley, xAI expects to generate over $13 billion in annual earnings by 2029 and anticipates $1 billion in gross revenue by the end of this year. The company also plans to invest $18 billion in data center expansion going forward.

Ilya Sutskever Takes Charge of Safe Superintelligence After CEO Daniel Gross Joins Meta Amid AI Talent War

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Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and former chief scientist of OpenAI, has stepped up to lead Safe Superintelligence (SSI), the AI startup he founded last year, following the departure of CEO Daniel Gross who was poached by Meta Platforms to head its AI products division.

Key Developments

  • Daniel Gross left SSI to join Meta amid an intensifying AI talent war, where major tech companies compete fiercely with lucrative pay and strategic acquisitions.

  • Meta has also tried to recruit Sutskever and acquire SSI, which was valued recently at $32 billion, but Sutskever emphasized the startup’s focus on its mission, despite the interest.

  • SSI raised $1 billion last year aiming to build advanced AI systems that safely surpass human intelligence.

Background on Sutskever and Meta’s AI Push

  • Sutskever previously played a pivotal role at OpenAI but departed following internal leadership turmoil involving Sam Altman in late 2023.

  • Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently created Meta Superintelligence Labs, consolidating the company’s AI efforts after challenges with its Llama 4 model and losing key talent.

  • This new unit will be led by Alexandr Wang (ex-Scale AI CEO) and Nat Friedman (ex-GitHub chief), with Meta investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI to bolster its AI capabilities.

Industry Connections and Meta’s Strategy

  • Gross and Friedman co-founded venture capital firm NFDG, which backs startups including SSI, Perplexity, and Figma.

  • Meta reportedly offered to buy a minority stake in NFDG’s funds, signaling a strategic push to influence key players in the AI startup ecosystem.

  • Gross’s background includes a 2013 startup acquisition by Apple and leadership roles in machine learning and AI at the tech giant.

Apple Explores Potential Acquisition of AI Startup Perplexity, Bloomberg Reports

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Apple (AAPL.O) executives have held early internal discussions about possibly bidding for artificial intelligence startup Perplexity, according to a Bloomberg News report on Friday citing sources familiar with the matter. However, the talks are in preliminary stages and may not result in an offer, with no direct communication reported between Apple and Perplexity management.

Perplexity stated it has no knowledge of any current or future merger and acquisition discussions involving the company. Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This potential move aligns with a broader trend of major tech companies ramping up investments in AI technologies to strengthen their competitive edge amid growing demand for AI-powered services. Bloomberg also reported that Meta Platforms (META.O) had attempted to acquire Perplexity earlier this year. Meta recently announced a $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI and appointed its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead a new superintelligence division.

Apple’s head of mergers and acquisitions, Adrian Perica, has reportedly discussed the possibility with services chief Eddy Cue and top AI leaders. The company aims to integrate AI-driven search functionalities, like those from Perplexity AI, into its Safari browser, which could reduce its reliance on Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google — a longtime default search partner.

This shift comes amid ongoing U.S. Department of Justice efforts to limit Google’s dominance in online search, including proposals to ban payments that secure default search engine status. While traditional search engines like Google remain dominant globally, AI-powered search tools such as Perplexity and ChatGPT are gaining traction, particularly among younger users.

Perplexity recently completed a funding round valuing the startup at $14 billion, making any acquisition deal at that scale potentially Apple’s largest to date. The Nvidia-backed company offers AI search services that provide users with summarized information, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.