AIon Musk adds booster to rockets

Elon Musk is back in the news - for the right reasons. He's pulling together bits and pieces of his business empire into a self-reinforcing system that's propelling him to trillionaire status. SpaceX's acquisition of xAI ahead of the planned IPO this year mixes large US defence contracts and investor frenzy over AI into a heady cocktail. Musk's success with reusable rockets is poised to outstrip e-mobility as a cash cow. It makes sense to park the cash-guzzling AI venture into a deeper pocket. Tesla's shareholders made history by offering Musk $1 tn over the next decade to convert the EV-maker into an AI superpower. But they were grudging when it came to coughing up big investments for xAI over concerns of lack of board oversight. Unlisted SpaceX doesn't face such resistance yet.

It's easier for Musk to sell his vision of orbital data centres from the SpaceX platform, however distant in the future the concept may be. The world's richest man is crashing the AI party with the weight of other innovations behind him, some of which, like self-driving cars, are not playing out as planned. Others, like chips implanted inside the brain, are some way off from commercial exploitation. Reusable rockets have a ready market among government space programmes and commercial satellite launches. Starlink, a SpaceX subsidiary that offers satellite communications, will distribute xAI's services apart from laying its hands on drool-worthy tech. It just might pull the moonshot of data centres in space slightly closer to Earth.

There is greater certainty that Muskonomy is working fine, even if some of its elements are under strain. There's no stopping Musk from duking it out in the AI game. Lawmakers could throw some sand in the machine, though. Tesla has seen subsidies being pulled and the US government, with its large contracts, might want to take a closer look at the kind of technology bouncing around in SpaceX. Then again, when did that ever stop Musk from his pursuit of changing human existence - and enriching himself in the bargain.