Elon Musk Rules Out Merger Between Tesla and xAI, But Proposes Shareholder Vote on Investment

Elon Musk has ruled out a potential merger between Tesla and his artificial intelligence startup xAI, but revealed plans to seek a shareholder vote on whether the electric vehicle giant should invest in the AI company. The move marks a new step in deepening integration across Musk’s growing tech empire.

His comments followed a Wall Street Journal report published last Saturday, stating that SpaceX—Musk’s aerospace firm—plans to invest $2 billion in xAI as part of a broader $5 billion funding round aimed at helping the startup compete with rivals like OpenAI in the capital-intensive race for AI dominance.

Deepening Ties Across Musk’s Companies

Musk’s companies already share strong synergies. xAI’s chatbot Grok is integrated into Tesla vehicles, and engineers from Tesla assisted Musk during his acquisition of Twitter in 2022, now rebranded as X.

Responding to a post on X asking Tesla investors if they would support a merger with xAI, Musk simply replied, “No.” However, he stated on Sunday that he would ask Tesla shareholders to vote on whether the company should invest in xAI.

“If it were up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI a long time ago,” Musk wrote on X, noting that the close relationship between the two companies could significantly advance Tesla’s ambitions in autonomous driving technologies.