Topline
Elon Musk’s xAI announced Monday it raised $6 billion in a Series C funding round, putting the company’s value at more than $40 billion as it continues to strengthen its AI products and infrastructure.
The funding round was announced Monday. (Photo by Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Key Facts
The company closed the $6 billion round and said the funding would be allocated toward products and infrastructure, likely referring to its Grok AI model and the multibillion-dollar supercomputer site in Memphis, Tennessee, used to train its AI models.
Investors included Blackrock, A16Z, Saudi conglomerate holding company Kingdom Holding, Fidelity and Sequoia Capital, the latter three of which participated in xAI’s $6 billion Series B funding round in May.
The latest funding round puts xAI’s valuation over $40 billion at least, as multiple reports have placed the value of Musk’s company at $40 billion or $50 billion.
xAI said in its funding announcement it is training Grok 3, which is not yet available and was slated for release by the end of the year, according to a tweet from Musk in June.
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you’ll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.
Big Number
$12 billion. That is how much money xAI has raised this year from their Series B and Series C funding rounds, which included investors such as Morgan Stanley, Kingdom Holding, Andreessen Horowitz, chip designer Nvidia and semiconductor firm AMD.
Key Background
xAI has spent 2024 building its AI language models and the supercomputer used to train them. The computer, dubbed “Colossus,” features 100,000 Nvidia graphics processing units used to train AI and will eventually be doubled in size, allowing it to take on a significantly high training workload. Sam Altman, the CEO of xAI competitor OpenAI, lauded the short time needed to get the supercomputer operational and said during The New York Times DealBook Summit he assumes Musk’s firm will become “a really serious competitor” (OpenAI so far exceeds xAI’s value with a massive $157 billion valuation). Grok 2, xAI’s AI model, is available to users on X, formerly known as Twitter, though it does not yet operate on a standalone app the same way OpenAI’s ChatGPT does. Grok 3 will reportedly boast more computing power and improved responsiveness of its predecessor, according to the chatbot.
Further Reading
What We Know About XAI As It Bolsters Itself For AI Race—With $6 Billion In New Funding (Forbes)
Inside Elon Musk’s Mad Dash To Build A Giant xAI Supercomputer In Memphis (Forbes)
