Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has secured $6 billion in new funding to push its ambitious plans forward in the AI race. This follows the company’s earlier fundraising round, bringing its total capital raised to $12 billion. The new investors include top names like Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, and Nvidia, highlighting the growing confidence in Musk’s AI vision.

In 2025, xAI aims to ramp up its generative AI model, Grok, which is already powering features on Musk’s social media platform, X. Grok is known for its “rebellious streak” and its ability to respond to questions that other AI systems reject. Musk has praised Grok for its “truth-seeking” nature, even as it takes a less restrained approach to controversial topics compared to rivals like ChatGPT.

The funding will allow xAI to expand its operations and challenge competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic. Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI claims that the company, backed by Microsoft, is stifling competition by extracting promises from investors not to fund rivals. Despite this, Musk insists that X’s vast data pool gives xAI a unique advantage in training its models.

xAI has already integrated Grok into X, offering an AI-powered chatbot for both X Premium users and free users in select regions. The company is also launching an API, enabling developers to incorporate Grok into third-party applications. In addition, xAI recently introduced a standalone Grok iOS app for testing.

The company’s ambitions extend beyond social media. Musk envisions xAI’s models being used across his other ventures, including Tesla and SpaceX. Despite objections from Tesla shareholders who argue that Musk is diverting resources from Tesla to xAI, Musk’s vision includes using xAI’s models to enhance customer service for SpaceX’s Starlink service and potentially contributing to R&D at Tesla.

One of xAI’s biggest moves is its rapidly expanding data center in Memphis, powered by Nvidia GPUs, which will double its processing capabilities in 2025. This new data center, which Musk’s team built in just 122 days, is set to play a crucial role in scaling up AI model training.

As AI venture capital activity continues to soar, with $31.1 billion in deals in Q3 2024 alone, xAI is positioning itself to remain a key player. With its aggressive expansion, unique product offerings, and new financial backing, Musk’s xAI is one to watch in 2025 and beyond.

TECHCRUNCH