Elon Musk’s xAI secures $20 billion funding round with Nvidia’s $2 billion investment — What we know – Crypto News – Crypto News
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Elon Musk’s xAI secures $20 billion funding round with Nvidia’s $2 billion investment — What we know – Crypto News

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8 months ago

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Elon Musk-owned artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI has secured its $20 billion funding round, with around $2 billion from chipmaker Nvidia Corp, Bloomberg reported citing sources.

The deal comprising equity and debt, will be tied to the use of Nvidia’s graphics processing units in xAi’s data centre Colossus 2, located in Memphis, the sources added.

Nvidia declined to comment on the news, while xAI representative did not respond, it added.

Nvidia invests in xAI: What we know

  • The equity part of Nvidia’s investment is about $2 billion, Bloomberg report said from sources.
  • xAI’s financing would be split between about $7.5 billion of equity and as much as $12.5 billion of debt, the sources said.
  • The deal will be structured via a special purpose vehicle, which will then be used to buy Nvidia processors, they added.
  • Musk’s startup plans to then rent the chips out for five years, allowing Wall Street financiers to recoup their investment.
  • The plan is unique, with the debt backed by the GPUs instead of the company, the report said, adding that it “could provide a playbook” in the future for other tech firms looking to decrease debt exposure.
  • Participants in the debt raise include Apollo Global Management and Diameter Capital Partners, the sources said, adding that Valor Capital and Apollo are part of the deal’s equity portion.
  • A Diameter spokesperson declined to comment, while representatives for Apollo and Valor didn’t respond to requests for comment, as per the report.

The massive capital raise is just the latest for the AI industry, which has seen major tech companies invest tens of billions at a frenetic pace in order to build the infrastructure necessary to develop top AI models. Earlier this week, OpenAI announced a deal to use Advanced Micro Devices Inc. chips over multiple years. Meta Platforms Inc. has inked several multibillion-dollar deals in the past few months, including a $29 billion financing package for data centers. Oracle Corp. also raised a $38 billion debt package for its infrastructure.

Nvidia’s leaders have said they will use the company’s growing financial strength to speed up the deployment of artificial intelligence across the industry. In September, Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress told the audience at a Goldman Sachs conference that Nvidia will repurchase stock and do strategic acquisitions where possible, but the priority is on using cash to help other companies use AI more quickly.

Data center capacity is seen as a necessity for developing top AI models, though some have debated how much the computing power can improve the technology. In the US bond markets alone, tech companies have raised about $157 billion this year — up 70% from last year.

Musk’s xAI is especially eager for capital. The firm, which already raised about $10 billion of corporate equity and debt earlier this year, still needs billions more given the company has been burning through $1 billion per month, Bloomberg reported. Musk has also tapped his empire of companies, including SpaceX, for investment into xAI. Later this year, Tesla Inc. investors will vote on whether the electric carmaker should invest in xAI as well.

Musk has framed AI as the foundation for many of his futuristic products, including self-driving cars and fully autonomous robots.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

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