AI lab, San Francisco
xAI
San Francisco · Founded July 2023
Quick read
xAI, an AI lab founded by Elon Musk in July 2023, is headquartered in San Francisco and operates as a division of SpaceX following an acquisition in early 2026. It builds the Grok family of large language models, owns the social network X, and runs Colossus — one of the largest AI supercomputers in the world. The company has raised $45 billion in total funding and claims roughly 600 million monthly active users across X and Grok.
Key facts
- Founded
- July 2023
- Founders
- Elon Musk, Igor Babuschkin, Ross Nordeen, Guodong Zhang, Zihang Dai
- Employees
- 5000-5400
- Sectors
- ai
- Website
- x.ai
Mission
Build AI systems that help humanity understand the universe.
Recent activity
- May 2026pressxAI, Microsoft, and Google agreed to give the US federal government access to their AI models for national security testing through the Department of Commerce's Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). aljazeera.com
- Apr 2026productxAI signed a deal with Anysphere (maker of Cursor) giving xAI the right to acquire the company for $60 billion, or to pay $10 billion for joint development work. en.wikipedia.org
- Apr 2026pressGen Digital announced a partnership with xAI to integrate Grok AI into its consumer products. tracxn.com
- Mar 2026leadershipCo-founders Guodong Zhang and Zihang Dai departed, leaving Elon Musk and Ross Nordeen as the only remaining co-founders. Musk responded by reviewing past interview history to identify missed hiring candidates. businessinsider.com
- Feb 2026leadershipSpaceX acquired xAI in a deal valuing xAI at $250 billion and the combined entity at $1.25 trillion. Michael Nicolls, VP of Starlink, became xAI's president. The restructuring created four primary development teams and resulted in layoffs. en.wikipedia.org
- Jan 2026fundraisexAI closed a $20 billion Series E round — exceeding its $15 billion target — from investors including Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, Nvidia, and Cisco. Total reported funding reached approximately $45 billion. techcrunch.com
- Jan 2026productxAI announced 'xAI For Government', a suite of frontier AI products made available first to US Government customers. x.ai
Key people
Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.
- Elon Musk · CEO & Founder
- Eric Zelikman · Researcher
- Igor Babuschkin · Co-founder
- Tony Wu · Co-founder
- Jimmy Ba · Co-founder
- Christian Szegedy · Co-founder
- Greg Yang · Co-founder
Sources
Other companies in United States
Frequently asked
What is xAI?+
xAI, an AI lab founded by Elon Musk in July 2023, is headquartered in San Francisco and operates as a division of SpaceX following an acquisition in early 2026. It builds the Grok family of large language models, owns the social network X, and runs Colossus — one of the largest AI supercomputers in the world.
Where is xAI headquartered?+
xAI is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.
When was xAI founded?+
xAI was founded in July 2023 by Elon Musk, Igor Babuschkin, Ross Nordeen, Guodong Zhang, Zihang Dai.
What sectors does xAI operate in?+
xAI focuses on ai. They primarily operate in these sectors.
Who is the CEO of xAI?+
Elon Musk is the CEO of xAI.
How do I prepare for a meeting with xAI?+
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Try Brief →Generated by briefthecall.com from public web sources on May 27, 2026. Each claim is linked to its source above.