New Delhi: With two co-founders exiting in quick succession and a blockbuster IPO reportedly on the horizon, Elon Musk has shifted attention to an even
bigger frontier: the moon. At a recent all-hands meeting with employees of xAI, Musk outlined an ambitious vision that ties the future of artificial intelligence to lunar manufacturing and orbital infrastructure.
According to reports by The New York Times, Musk told staff that xAI would ultimately need a factory on the moon, a facility capable of building AI satellites and launching them into space using a giant catapult system. The goal, he said, is simple but sweeping: secure more computing power than any competitor on Earth. Yet the bold pitch comes at a moment of internal change, as leadership departures raise fresh questions about stability inside the young company.
Leadership shake-up comes at a crucial moment
The meeting followed the departure of two senior figures. Co-founder Tony Wu announced he was stepping away. Within hours, fellow co-founder Jimmy Ba, who reported directly to Musk, also confirmed his exit. Their departures bring the total number of founding members who have left xAI to six out of twelve.
Publicly, the exits have been described as amicable. Still, the timing stands out. The newly merged xAI-SpaceX entity is reportedly preparing for a potential IPO that could value the company at $1.5 trillion as early as this summer. For departing founders, the financial upside could be substantial. For observers, the turnover signals a company evolving rapidly and perhaps turbulently.
Musk acknowledged the flux during the meeting. He suggested that some people are better suited to a startup’s early phase, while others thrive at scale. Speed, he emphasised, is the company’s defining advantage. In his view, moving faster than competitors ensures leadership.
From Mars to the Moon
For much of SpaceX’s history, Mars was the ultimate objective. Colonising the Red Planet was framed as humanity’s long-term insurance policy. But in recent days, Musk has signalled a strategic pivot. He suggested that building a self-sustaining city on the moon could happen in half the time it would take to establish one on Mars.
The shift is notable. SpaceX has not yet completed a crewed lunar mission. Still, the moon now appears central to Musk’s near-term ambitions. Investors, for their part, have shown more enthusiasm for data infrastructure in orbit than distant planetary colonies. A lunar-based AI manufacturing hub sits somewhere between those visions.
The bigger AI play
Other supporters claim that the moon project is not a distraction. They view it as a conspiracy that has been carried out over a long period. The hypothesis is that Musk hopes to develop the most powerful world model in the world, a model that is an AI trained on massive amounts of proprietary and real-world information that competitors cannot access.
That could be fed by each Musk company. Tesla donates car information and energy frameworks. Neuralink offers neurological information. SpaceX provides aerospace and orbital information. Boring Company incorporates underground mapping. A lunar factory would widen that data advantage on the surface of the Earth and increase computing capacity in orbit.
It is unclear whether the technical feasibility of such integration is possible. It would entail innovations in the production process, the launch systems, and space-based calculations. It would also require coordination of several multifaceted businesses at a time when the leadership structures are getting leaner.
Legal grey areas in outer space
There are also legal issues. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prohibits countries from asserting sovereignty over the moon. A United States law of 2015, however, permits companies to own resources mined in celestial bodies. The difference is a controversial one. Opponents believe that mining is tantamount to partial ownership.
Even the key participants in the spacefaring industry, such as China and Russia, have not entirely subscribed to the U.S. definition. That preconditions the possible geopolitical conflict in case commercial projects to the moon speed up.
At least, at this point, Musk seems to be untroubled. He is expanding the horizon again as his companies approach a high-stakes IPO and rivalry in the AI competition goes high. The moon, which was once a symbolic accomplishment in the space race, is being reformed as a sky-based data centre.
