Tech Giant Consolidation Looms as SpaceX Considers Mergers, Amazon Eyes OpenAI Investment
Speculation swirled around potential mega-mergers and massive investments in the tech world Thursday, with Elon Musk's SpaceX reportedly considering merging with Tesla or xAI, and Amazon reportedly in talks to invest $50 billion in OpenAI.
SpaceX, Elon Musk's space exploration company, is exploring potential mergers with Tesla or xAI, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters. The discussions are in the early stages, but could lead to one of the companies folding into SpaceX. Reuters reported that a merger between SpaceX and xAI could occur before SpaceX's planned IPO later this year. This would potentially bring together SpaceX rockets, Starlink satellites, the Grok chatbot, and the X platform under one corporate umbrella. Jay Peters of The Verge noted that "Musk could be consolidating his companies." Company representatives from SpaceX and xAI have not commented on the potential merger.
Meanwhile, Amazon is reportedly in discussions to invest $50 billion in OpenAI, the company already valued at $500 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. OpenAI is seeking an additional $100 billion in investment, which could raise its valuation to $830 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is leading negotiations with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. TechCrunch reached out to Amazon and OpenAI for comment. OpenAI has also reportedly been in discussions with sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, and has held additional talks with Nvidia and Microsoft, according to The New York Times.
In other news, US President Donald Trump stated Thursday that he has informed Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, that he will reopen all commercial airspace over Venezuela, allowing Americans to visit the country soon. According to Euronews, Trump said he instructed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and US military leaders to take steps to open the airspace for travel by the end of the day. "American citizens will be [able to visit]," Trump stated. The US Department of Homeland Security had indefinitely suspended US airlines from flying to Venezuela in 2019, citing safety and security concerns.
Finally, a surge in new gas power plants is being driven by AI data centers, according to The Verge. The US is leading a global surge in new gas power plants to meet the growing energy demands of data centers. Justine Calma of The Verge reported that "AI data centers are driving a surge in new gas projects."
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