Elon Musk is all set to bring another new venture into space. According to reports, Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX has acquired xAI, his artificial intelligence startup. He explains that this deal will help create his “most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth."
In the announcement, Musk says that AI’s energy is too fast to be handled on Earth alone. He states that “global electricity demand for AI simply cannot be met with terrestrial solutions.” The tech leader believes that shifting data centers into orbit is the best and most logical solution. SpaceX recently filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to find support for this idea. The plan is to launch an “orbital data centre” that can support up to one million new satellites.
Musk claims that space-based data centres can also solve energy problems and promote space travel. He further explained that making space-based data centres a reality will help fund and promote self-growing bases in space, expanding our civilization to the Moon and Mars.
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Musk has always been in the spotlight for his ‘ambitious projects.’ His ‘make it big’ projects gained appreciation and raised concerns at the same time. In 2017, he predicted that SpaceX would send people to Mars by 2024. This bold promise has been an ongoing project since then.
SpaceX is already one of the world's most valuable privately held companies. The company has been valued at $800bn during a recent insider share sale.
The new venture is all set to hold a new global record for the largest acquisition deals. An estimate by Bloomberg reports that the deal could raise up to $50bn and raise the value of the company to around $1.25tn. This amount is targeted for an initial public offering (IPO). Moreover, the main idea is to expand the realms of AI beyond Earth.
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