Elon Musk’s XAI raises $6 billion in equity funding as AI race heats up

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has raised another $6 billion from investors as it steps up competition with Sam Altman-led OpenAI, according to a regulatory filing.

XAI — which created that dangerous “Grok” chatbot available on Musk’s X social networking site — raised the funds from a total of 97 investors, SEC filings revealed Thursday. The minimum investment in exchange for equity was $77,593.

The filing did not name any individual investors or reveal the size of other investments that took place as part of the round.

Last month, CNBC reported that the round included $5 billion from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and $1 billion from other investors — and raised xAI’s valuation to $50 billion.

The money is expected to help Musk’s AI startup build its access to computing power.

xAI has raised $6 billion in another fundraising round. ZUMAPRESS.com

XAI is expanding its supercomputing facility in Memphis, Tennessee to host at least one million graphics processing units (GPUs), local officials announced earlier this week. GPUs are needed to train xAI models.

Even with its recent fundraising, xAI is still far smaller than OpenAI, which developed a commanding lead in the AI ​​race with the release of ChatGPT.

Elon Musk is also waging a legal battle with Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Getty Images

In October, OpenAI closed a $6.6 billion funding round that valued the company at $157 billion. Altman is also leading an effort to restructure OpenAI as a for-profit company — moving the nonprofit entity that has governed the firm since it was founded in 2015 into a less prominent role.

As The Post reported earlier this week, Musk — who co-founded OpenAI but later fell out with Altman — filed for an injunction to block the firm from becoming profitable.

Musk, who filed a major lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI earlier this year, argued that the firm has run afoul of antitrust law through its cooperation with Microsoft, which has poured billions into its operations as a major investor.

Musk’s XAI is valued at more than $50 billion, according to CNBC. Getty Images

“Plaintiffs and the public need a break,” Musk’s filing for the order said. “OpenAI’s path from non-profit to for-profit behemoth is littered with per se anti-competitive practices, flagrant violations of its charitable mission, and rampant self-dealing.”

“He cannot worry about the market as a Frankenstein, held together by whatever corporate form serves the monetary interests of Microsoft and Altman at any given moment,” the filing added.

By postal wire

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