Surpassing Gemini 3, Elon Musk released the fast inference version of Grok 4.1 and also revealed a new round of $15 billion in financing.

Just after Grok 4.1 topped the charts, it was overtaken by Gemini 3. Elon Musk is really getting restless!

Although he generously sent his blessings to Gemini 3, on the other hand, Musk has started to raise funds urgently -

According to the latest revelation from the Wall Street Journal, xAI is planning a new round of $15 billion (approximately 106.7 billion RMB) in financing, and the company's valuation will also reach $230 billion (approximately 1.6 trillion RMB).

The figure of $230 billion is more than double the $113 billion valuation (the combined valuation of xAI and X) that Musk disclosed in March this year.

As a result, netizens have sighed that Musk is still too far ahead, and we ordinary people just don't understand.

Even compared with growth monsters like OpenAI, the soaring speed of xAI's valuation is astonishing.

After all, OpenAI has a global hit application like ChatGPT in its hands, and the subscription fees alone can bring in more than $200 million in revenue for OpenAI every month.

However, Grok, the core product of xAI, is still deeply integrated into the ecosystem of X (formerly Twitter). Its user scale and commercial influence are obviously not on the same level as the former.

This shows the boom in AI.

An Overview of xAI's Financing Situation

Let's first talk about the new financing that xAI has reported this time.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the details of the relevant financing were revealed by Jared Birchall, Musk's wealth manager. However, it is still unclear whether the $230 billion is the pre - investment or post - investment valuation, and there is no explanation for the use of funds.

Interestingly, about last week, some media reported that xAI was seeking $15 billion in financing from investors (with a valuation of $200 billion), but Musk later came out to refute the rumor -

He simply replied "False" under the relevant news without further explanation.

From the last time to this time, the reported financing amount of xAI is $15 billion, and the valuations are also similar. The authenticity of these reports is really in question at present.

However, as of the time of publishing this article, neither Musk nor xAI has responded.

Nevertheless, if we look back at the valuation growth of xAI since its establishment more than two years ago, the soaring speed is really astonishing.

Musk officially announced the establishment of xAI in July 2023. The initial goal he announced was also very broad, just one sentence:

To understand the true nature of the universe.

At that time, it positioned itself as a non - profit company, but it gave up its non - profit status in May 2024.

Although there is no specific explanation of what "understanding the nature of the universe" means, xAI has targeted the large - model field and continuously updated its models and products.

The latest model version is Grok 4.1, which was just released a few days ago. However, it was quickly defeated by Google's Gemini 3 in the human blind - selection arena.

Its main products include the Grok chatbot powered by its own model (both as an independent app and integrated on the X media platform), and the business line launched in October this year - the AI - driven online encyclopedia Grokipedia.

Moreover, in order to support the R & D of its models and products, xAI is burning money at an increasing speed.

In December 2023, according to SEC filings, xAI's first large - scale external financing was approximately $134.7 million, mainly used for the company's start - up.

In 2024, xAI entered a stage of rapid growth.

In May last year, xAI raised approximately $6 billion in Series B financing, and then carried out another $6 billion in Series C financing half a year later. The post - investment total valuation reached $50 billion.

In 2025, a major news was that two of Musk's companies, xAI and X, officially merged in March -

xAI acquired X (Twitter) through an all - stock transaction. In this transaction, xAI was valued at $80 billion, and X was valued at $33 billion (the $45 billion in assets minus the $12 billion in debt).

The merged company is called XAI Holding, and the post - merger valuation is as high as $113 billion.

According to Wikipedia, after the merger, xAI was reported to have carried out large - scale debt and equity financing in July -

Morgan Stanley arranged $5 billion in debt financing, and xAI itself had $5 billion in equity financing (including a $2 billion investment from Musk's SpaceX).

Until now, its valuation has reached the rumored $230 billion. If the rumor is true, from the end of last year to now, the company's valuation has increased from $50 billion to more than $200 billion, quadrupling in less than a year.

Incidentally, Tesla also discussed whether to invest in xAI at its annual meeting this year. Although the result is undetermined, the preliminary vote shows that most shareholders agree to invest in xAI.

How can it not be a company with a bright future (doge).

The Valuations of Large - Model Companies are Soaring, and OpenAI is Also Burning Money at an Accelerated Pace

In fact, from last year to now, an obvious trend is:

Large - model companies are experiencing the latest round of soaring valuations.

Not only xAI, but also its competitor OpenAI has a comparable valuation growth rate.

According to a special transaction (secondary resale of employee shares) completed by OpenAI in October this year, its valuation was pushed up to $500 billion, a nearly 67% increase compared with the $300 billion valuation during the SoftBank - led financing in March this year.

Additionally, just recently, Musk also released the fast - inference version Grok 4.1 Fast.

Moreover, he specifically pointed out that it defeated Google's Gemini 3 in benchmark tests.

Musk's counter - attack is really fast (doge).

Reference links:

[1]https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/elon-musks-xai-in-advanced-talks-to-raise-15-billion-lifting-valuation-00bcfa80

[2]https://x.com/WSJ/status/19911269345419766024

This article is from the WeChat official account “Quantum Bit”. Author: Yishui. Republished by 36Kr with permission.