Elon Musk’s SpaceX acquires Musk’s xAI, the companies Office has partnered. The merger “will form the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s first real-time information and free speech platform,” Musk wrote in an update.

The AI ​​company today is best known for this CSAM-generating chatbot seems like an odd fit for a rocket company. But SpaceX is key to Musk’s latest plan to build AI data centers in space. In his update, Musk wrote that the “global electricity demand for AI cannot be met by terrestrial solutions” and that transferring resource-intensive operations to space is “the only logical solution.” SpaceX just a few days ago filed an application with the FCC to create a “orbital data center” by launching a million new satellites.

Musk also claimed that, eventually, space-based data centers would enable other advances in space travel. “The capabilities we unlock by making space-based data centers a reality will fund and enable self-growth bases on the Moon, an entire civilization on Mars and ultimately the expansion of the Universe.” Notably, this isn’t the first time Musk has made tall claims about Mars. He prophesied in 2017 that SpaceX will send a crewed mission to Mars in 2024.

It’s also not the first time Musk has acquired one of his own companies. she xAI and X are combined last year, which means that SpaceX now owns the social network that Musk bought in 2022. And he recently announced that Tesla is investing $2 billion in xAI. SpaceX plans to go public later this year in an initial public offering (IPO) that could value the company at more than $1 trillion, according to Bloomberg, saying that SpaceX is also “discussing a possible merger with Tesla.”