Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture xAI has secured $20 billion in an upsized Series E funding round, significantly exceeding its initial $15 billion target, underscoring strong investor confidence in the company’s ambition to compete at the forefront of the global AI race. The capital infusion will be directed toward expanding computing capacity, advancing new AI models, and building next-generation infrastructure to support xAI’s rapidly growing portfolio of products.
The funding round drew participation from prominent financial backers including Valor Equity Partners, StepStone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and the Qatar Investment Authority. Strategic investors NVIDIA and Cisco Investments also joined the round, strengthening xAI’s ties with key players in semiconductors and networking—both critical to scaling large-scale AI systems. According to the company, the expanded round reflects heightened demand from investors eager to gain exposure to advanced AI infrastructure and foundational model development.
When contacted by Reuters regarding the fundraising, xAI responded tersely with, “Legacy Media Lies.” The comment reflects the startup’s often confrontational public posture as it positions itself as a challenger to established AI leaders.
Founded by Musk in 2023, xAI is currently training its next-generation Grok 5 model, which is expected to power future iterations of its conversational AI offerings. To support this effort, the company has been aggressively expanding its data-center footprint, racing to keep pace with rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Alphabet’s Gemini. Access to high-performance compute has become one of the most decisive factors in determining leadership in advanced AI, and xAI’s latest funding round is aimed squarely at closing that gap.
The new capital is expected to accelerate research timelines, enable faster deployment of AI products, and support the construction of large-scale infrastructure required for training and inference. With competition intensifying and investment in AI infrastructure reaching unprecedented levels, xAI’s $20 billion Series E positions the company as one of the most heavily funded AI startups globally, signaling Musk’s intent to play a long-term, capital-intensive game in the race for next-generation artificial intelligence.
