xAI logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Jan 6 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI announced Tuesday it raised $20 billion in an upsized Series E funding round, exceeding its $15 billion target as it ramps up development of new AI models and computing infrastructure.
Valor Equity Partners, StepStone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company and Qatar Investment Authority participated in the round, xAI said.
Nvidia and Cisco Investments joined as strategic investors, and xAI said their backing would help it expand computing capacity.
When contacted by Reuters for comment by email, xAI replied with the message, 'Legacy Media Lies.'
xAI, which is training its next-generation Grok 5 model, said it will use the new money to build infrastructure, speed development and deployment of AI products, and fund research.
Investor demand for AI deals has stayed strong despite warnings of a bubble, as companies spend heavily on computing power and new models.
xAI has rapidly expanded its data-center footprint to train more advanced systems as it tries to close the gap with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Alphabet's Gemini.
(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
