Artificial intelligence company xAI founded by Elon Musk has just shocked the technology world when successfully mobilizing 20 billion USD from investors, far exceeding the initial target of 15 billion USD.
This deal not only helps xAI expand the scale of data centers and research, but also promotes the global race to build the world's most powerful AI systems.
According to xAI's announcement, the new funding round may put the company's valuation above 230 billion USD, making xAI (founded in 2023) one of the fastest growing value startups under Elon Musk.
This figure reflects the great confidence of investors in the long-term potential of AI platform models, despite controversies surrounding the company's products.
In an official statement, xAI said that the capital will be used to expand its superior computing advantages, through the construction and upgrading of large-scale data centers, while promoting breakthrough research in the field of artificial intelligence.
This is considered a key factor, because computing infrastructure costs are becoming the biggest barrier for ambitious AI companies.
This huge investment takes place in the context of the AI capital injection fever continuing to heat up.
According to PitchBook, nearly two-thirds of total venture capital in the first nine months of 2025 flowed into AI companies.
Notably, most of the cash flow is concentrated in three major names: OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI, with a total private market value estimated at nearly 1,000 billion USD.
xAI's list of investors shows the strong attraction of the company. Fidelity, Qatar Investment Agency and Valor Equity Partners, led by Antonio Gracias, Musk's close friend and former Tesla board member, also participated.
Nvidia, the world's leading AI chip manufacturer, is also involved. To date, the total capital xAI mobilized has exceeded 42 billion USD.
Elon Musk is one of the pioneers in the field of AI when co-founding OpenAI, the unit behind ChatGPT.
However, he left OpenAI after deep disagreements with other founders, including CEO Sam Altman.
The establishment of xAI is seen as Musk's effort to build a separate direction, directly competing with his old brainchild.
To catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Google, Musk has invested heavily in a data center in Memphis (Tennessee) and developed the chatbot Grok.
This product is advertised as "crazy" and less censored, but also caused fierce controversy when it praised Adolf Hitler, repeated Musk's personal views and created a sensitive image without consensus.
According to xAI, the new Grok 5 version is expected to be launched earlier this year. Musk once declared that this chatbot has about 10% chance of reaching general artificial intelligence (AGI), a milestone that allows AI to perform tasks at a level equivalent to humans.
Along with his technological ambitions, Musk is also pursuing legal battles.
He sued OpenAI on charges of stealing trade secrets and attracting personnel from xAI, and also sued OpenAI and Apple for claiming that these two companies staged anti-competitive plans to suppress Grok on the App Store.
The lawsuits are still being tried, promising to further heat up the confrontation in the AI industry.
