The billionaire’s decision to merge his A.I. start-up with his rocket company will test investors’ interest in giant combinations of unalike businesses.

Elon Musk responded to a post on X about government contracts and subsidies tied to his companies, highlighting the value of Tesla and SpaceX.

Elon Musk is again confronting the limits of his own ambition, this time not in rocket design but in basic geography and family life. His vision for SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas as an all-consuming “technology monastery” is colliding with the reality that many of the engineers he wants simply will not uproot spouses and children

Elon Musk believes the best way to solve the difficulties of building AI data centers on earth is to move them into outer space. His merger this week of his rocket company SpaceX with his artificial intelligence company xAI could help get them there.

On December 15, Musk became the first person ever worth $600 billion, after private investors valued SpaceX at $800 billion.