.png){kind=logo}
xAI founder Elon Musk has denied a report that claimed the artificial intelligence startup raised $15 billion in new capital. He responded on X, the social media platform he owns, and called the CNBC story “false” without giving extra details about the company’s financing plans.
The report said xAI had added $5 billion to an earlier $10 billion funding round that valued the firm at about $200 billion. CNBC cited unnamed sources who described the transaction as one of the largest private raises in the AI sector. Musk also disputed CNBC’s earlier story about the $10 billion round.
The reported capital would support large purchases of graphics processing units, or GPUs, that xAI needs to train more advanced models. Major AI developers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, also spend heavily on these chips as they compete to scale large language models and other systems.
xAI continues to build out its data center capacity. The company positions its Grok chatbot as an alternative to existing AI assistants and integrates it into the X platform and newer Tesla vehicles. Investor interest in AI infrastructure remains strong, even as some analysts warn about stretched valuations across the sector.
xAI’s growth plans have drawn local resistance in Memphis, Tennessee, where it is buying property for its planned Colossus supercomputer. The facilities use natural gas turbines to power energy-intensive computing operations, which raises concern among some residents and researchers about air quality and emissions.
The company also faces criticism over Grok’s content output. Users and advocacy groups have accused the chatbot of generating inaccurate information and hateful material, including antisemitic language. xAI recently launched Grokipedia, an encyclopedia-style product, but critics say it repeats the same accuracy and moderation problems.
Also Read: Elon Musk’s xAI is Creating an AI-Generated Video Game Built on Nvidia’s World Model Tech
xAI maintains close links to Tesla through technology and energy deals. Reports indicate that xAI spent tens of millions of dollars on Tesla battery systems to support its data centers. At a recent Tesla shareholder meeting, investors voted on a potential investment by the automaker into xAI, but the proposal did not receive enough support to proceed.
Shareholders also approved Musk’s large pay package at the same meeting, keeping attention on how he balances leadership roles across his companies. In a separate move, xAI acquired social media platform X in an all-stock transaction valued at about $33 billion.
That deal tightened the connections between Musk’s car business, AI venture, and social media platform as regulators, investors, and users continue to monitor how these intertwined operations evolve.
