Tech
Elon Musk laughing
(Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

SpaceX merges with xAI, reportedly will seek an IPO valuation of $1.25 trillion

Elon Musk says his space company has merged with his AI company, with the lofty goal of eventually putting data centers in space.

Nate Becker

Elon Musk’s giant space company has merged with his AI company, according to a letter from Musk posted on the SpaceX website.

As part of the reasoning for the deal, Musk cited a pet idea among tech billionaires: powering AI by placing data centers in space.

“Current advances in AI are dependent on large terrestrial data centers, which require immense amounts of power and cooling. Global electricity demand for AI simply cannot be met with terrestrial solutions, even in the near term, without imposing hardship on communities and the environment.

In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale...

By directly harnessing near-constant solar power with little operating or maintenance costs, these satellites will transform our ability to scale compute.”

(This concept, by the way, would be exceptionally hard to pull off.)

After the tie-up, the combined company is aiming to go public at a valuation of about $1.25 trillion, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the merger was happening, citing an internal memo.

Tesla, which Bloomberg had previously reported to have been in consideration to be merged among the companies in some way, wasn’t mentioned in the report of the deal. Shares were roughly flat after-hours. 

The move would tie together two of Musk’s signature companies — two of the biggest privately held firms in the world. It would also bundle together rockets, satellites, the social media site X, and artificial intelligence all under one company.

An IPO at a valuation of $1.25 trillion would immediately place the combined SpaceX/xAI into the top 10 most valuable publicly traded companies on US exchanges. It would be one of the biggest global IPOs ever by valuation. (The largest IPO on record is Saudi Aramco, which went public in Saudi Arabia valued at about $1.9 trillion in 2019.)

Various reports had said SpaceX was seeking a valuation topping $1 trillion, and some had even floated a valuation exceeding $1.5 trillion.

Musk’s companies are already extremely interconnected, including Tesla’s recent $2 billion investment in xAI.

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Nate Becker
6h
Reading between the lines on the latest SpaceX merger report and Musk’s cryptic tweet

There are a few things to note in and around Bloomberg’s report that SpaceX and xAI are in advanced deal talks.

Elon Musk waving
tech
Jon Keegan

Analyst: Investors should brace for Europe’s breakup with US Big Tech

The signs are there: the French government has restricted the use of Zoom for its employees. In Germany, the state of Schleswig-Holstein is ending the use of Microsoft Teams among its workers.

As US-EU tensions rise, Europe is looking to secure its own “digital sovereignty,” reduce its dependence on US-owned technology platforms, and grow its domestic tech industry. It now seems the European breakup with Big Tech is underway.

Tuttle Capital Management CEO Matthew Tuttle thinks that most investors aren’t paying enough attention to this growing problem for the American tech sector’s stocks.

In a note to investors, Tuttle wrote:

“The world is building optionality away from U.S. policy and platform dependence. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it — because it’s showing up in procurement decisions, supply chains, defense budgets, and capital flows.”

Europe wants to break up with US tech. Here’s how it plans on doing that.

Europe wants to break up with US tech. Here’s how it plans on doing that.

Tuttle Capital Management CEO Matthew Tuttle thinks that most investors aren’t paying enough attention to this growing problem for the American tech sector’s stocks.

In a note to investors, Tuttle wrote:

“The world is building optionality away from U.S. policy and platform dependence. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it — because it’s showing up in procurement decisions, supply chains, defense budgets, and capital flows.”

$110B
Rani Molla

Waymo is seeking to raise $16 billion in a funding round that would value the autonomous car company at nearly $110 billion, Bloomberg reports. That’s higher than earlier Bloomberg estimates for the round and more than double Waymo’s 2024 valuation.

Parent company Google is leading the financing, expected to close in February, by making a $13 billion commitment that would account for a huge chunk of the round.

tech
Rani Molla

China outlaws door handles Tesla is famous for

A new Chinese safety rule will require every vehicle sold in the country to have mechanically operable external and internal door handles that work even without power by 2027. The move would effectively ban the flush, motor-activated door handles Tesla is famous for, and that other EV makers like Xiaomi, Lucid, and Rivian have also adopted. Tesla is already facing scrutiny over its door designs in the US, where regulators have investigated crashes in which passengers struggled to exit vehicles after power failures.

China Bans Hidden Car Door Handles in World-First Safety Policy

China Bans Hidden Car Door Handles in World-First Safety Policy
tech
Rani Molla

Tesla’s Europe sales get big headlines — but they’re a small part of the business

Another month, another round of headlines about Tesla’s sales in Europe — a market small enough that the company doesn’t even break out its revenue separately in filings.

The monthly headline bonanza around Tesla’s European sales has to do with the fact that, unlike in the US, there is readily available data on vehicle registrations there. But the availability of those headlines tends to overstate Europe’s importance to Tesla’s overall vehicle business.

In 2025, Tesla sold 238,656 vehicles across the Europe, down 27% from 2024. That represents less than 15% of Tesla’s total global vehicle sales. Early data from several European countries paints a mixed picture at the start of 2026 — declines in France and Norway, increases in Spain and Sweden — but in absolute terms, those markets remain relatively small for Tesla.

By comparison, the US is a much larger and more important market for Tesla, accounting for about 35% of unit sales last year, according to estimates from analyst Troy Teslike, and roughly half of the company’s revenue in 2025. Crucially, vehicle sales are declining there, too.

Tesla registrations in Europe show little recovery in January

Tesla registrations in Europe show little recovery in January

In 2025, Tesla sold 238,656 vehicles across the Europe, down 27% from 2024. That represents less than 15% of Tesla’s total global vehicle sales. Early data from several European countries paints a mixed picture at the start of 2026 — declines in France and Norway, increases in Spain and Sweden — but in absolute terms, those markets remain relatively small for Tesla.

By comparison, the US is a much larger and more important market for Tesla, accounting for about 35% of unit sales last year, according to estimates from analyst Troy Teslike, and roughly half of the company’s revenue in 2025. Crucially, vehicle sales are declining there, too.

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