Musk's xAI to close $15 billion funding round in December: sources

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence venture, xAI, is on track to finalize a significant funding round amounting to $15 billion, with a pre-money valuation of $230 billion anticipated next month. According to sources familiar with the situation, the deadline for fund allocation is set for the end of the day on Tuesday, with the closing date for the round expected to be December 19. This development aligns with previous reports confirming xAI's efforts to raise the substantial capital. Despite the buzz, Musk took to the social media platform X to label the funding report as "False." Nevertheless, insiders revealed that a considerable portion of the raised funds will likely be directed towards acquiring graphics processing units, which are crucial for the operation of large language models. This funding initiative underlines the relentless appetite for AI technologies, as companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have also secured billions in investments, achieving remarkable valuations in the process. For instance, OpenAI completed a $6.6 billion share sale last month, reaching a staggering $500 billion valuation, and is reportedly eyeing a $1 trillion IPO. Meanwhile, Anthropic recently concluded a $13 billion funding round that significantly increased its valuation from earlier this year. xAI, which has developed the Grok chatbot—recently criticized for spreading hate speech—has also introduced Grokipedia, an AI-driven alternative to Wikipedia. Earlier this year, Musk announced the integration of xAI with X, a merger that positioned the social media platform's valuation at $33 billion.