Musk suggests Tesla investor vote on xAI investment, rules out merger

Published: 2025-07-14 14:21:09 ET TSLA

Published on 07/14/2025 at 14:21

STORY: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he plans to hold a shareholder vote on whether the EV maker can invest in his artificial intelligence startup, xAI.

His comments came after the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that SpaceX, Musk's rocket firm, will invest $2 billion in xAI as part of a $5 billion funding round.

The investments are aimed at helping xAI better compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT.

xAI recently launched Grok 4, its latest flagship AI model.

While Musk has touted it as "the smartest AI in the world," Grok still lags ChatGPT in terms of usage.

Integrating technology, talent and financial backing is a theme that runs across Musk's empire of companies.

Earlier this year, xAI acquired X in a $33 billion deal that valued the combined group at $80 billion at the time.

But the billionaire ruled out a merger between Tesla and xAI, responding 'no' on Monday to a user poll on X that posed the question of the two companies merging.

Musk, Tesla and xAI did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.