Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has raised $20 billion in its latest funding round, surpassing its initial $15 billion target and marking one of the largest private AI infrastructure financings in history.
The Series E round drew major support from technology and investment heavyweights including Nvidia, Cisco Investments, and Fidelity.
xAI said it plans to use the funds to accelerate its AI infrastructure buildout and expand products, including its Grok chatbot and offerings linked to X, formerly known as Twitter.
The funding includes $7.5 billion in equity and $12.5 billion in debt, with the debt secured by Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) that will be rented back to xAI for five years.
Nvidia’s involvement underscores its growing role as a key backer of AI startups, with previous investments spanning xAI, OpenAI, CoreWeave, and multiple other AI infrastructure ventures.
The announcement comes amid soaring investor interest in AI, following SoftBank’s $40 billion commitment to OpenAI and xAI’s $5 billion infrastructure deal with rival Anthropic in November. With the new funds, xAI overtakes Anthropic in capital raised among the three largest private AI model developers, challenging OpenAI’s previously unassailable lead.