Elon Musk wants to pursue his artificial intelligence company xAI with more capital. The new round would aim to reach a valuation of $45 billion, becoming the second most valuable company in the sector. OpenAI’s latest fundraising brought its valuation to 150 billion.
If Musk’s goal is achieved, xAI would exceed 40,000 million Antrophic. The most striking part is where he tries to raise millions. According to the Financial Times, the founder of Tesla would have established contacts in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The most fascinating thing is that Musk ended up financially with Riyadh.
When Tesla went public in 2018, PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, was going to be one of the main investors. But The investment vehicle never disbursed a dollar and Musk blamed the fund’s governorYasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, for “leaving him stranded”.
Now that the The Australian tycoon is a Trump ally No one knows how the play may end. Musk spoke this week at the Saudi Forum on Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative. And his old enemy Rumayyan too. He noted that the country was reducing the sovereign fund’s specific allocation of $930 billion to international investments, even though AI remained a priority for the kingdom.
It seems easier to ask for money in Qatar. Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund, financed part of Musk’s conquest of Twitter. Oil-rich Gulf countries, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have expressed their ambition to become leading players in the field of AI, as they possess significant financial power and d abundant energy resources.
Last month, Groqthe American artificial intelligence company, has announced plans to establish the world’s largest inference data center in Saudi Arabia after signing a deal with Aramco Digital.
Funding for AI startups has soared since OpenAI launched its popular chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022. In the first half of this year, AI startups attracted more than 40% of all venture capital funding from the United States, according to PitchBook. Musk proposes to reach the valuation of $45 billion. To this end, its current partners Sequoia Capital and Valor Equity Partners would enter the financing round.
