Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX has acquired his AI startup xAI, tying the Grok developer more directly to SpaceX’s launch, satellite and communications businesses.
SpaceX said the deal is intended to create a “vertically-integrated innovation engine” spanning AI and space systems, and framed the combination as a way to accelerate work “on (and off) Earth.”
xAI positions Grok for workplace and enterprise deployment
The deal comes after xAI’s recent effort to position Grok for workplace deployment. In a Dec. 30 post introducing Grok Business and Grok Enterprise, xAI said it is putting Grok “in the hands of employees everywhere” and claims enterprise security and privacy were built in “from the ground up,” including a commitment that customer data is not used for model training.
xAI said Grok Enterprise is intended for larger organizations and includes features such as custom single sign-on and directory sync (SCIM).
The company also described workplace collaboration features, including shared conversation links and Google Drive integration designed to respect existing Drive permissions, along with responses that include citations linking back to source documents.
xAI’s enterprise legal terms describe the covered services as “xAI business services, including the xAI API and Grok Business,” and set expectations for how customers can provide access to end users and integrations, with provisions that require customers to keep credentials confidential and notify xAI of suspected compromise or unauthorized access.
FCC Filing for ‘Orbital Data Center’ System
Separately, SpaceX has an active FCC application package for an “Orbital Data Center” system, a proposed satellite-based platform for on-orbit compute and data processing.
In a waiver request submitted with its application, SpaceX argues it should be allowed to proceed without waiting for processing-round procedures for certain non-geostationary satellite systems.
The company said it seeks to operate in the relevant Ka-band segment on a “non-interference, non-protection basis,” meaning it would not be entitled to protection from interference by other authorized systems.
Ka-band is a high-frequency spectrum commonly used for high-throughput satellite communications.
The company further said that the system can reroute beams and traffic to prevent interference using beam steering, optical links, and a flexible on-orbit network architecture.
SpaceX’s filing also links the request to near-term user demand, saying the proposed Orbital Data Center system would enable delivery of “energy efficient AI compute” for “consumers, enterprises, and government users around the world.”
The company also asks the FCC to waive certain Schedule S requirements, used to disclose satellite technical and orbital parameters, citing limitations in the form for describing dynamically adjustable channels and other system parameters.
The waiver document references recent FCC “space modernization” efforts and argues that licensing the system sooner would accelerate deployment of services it claims can be operated without precluding other entrants in the band.