Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, has secured $3 billion in fresh funding, marking one of the largest single-ticket investments into a private AI company in recent years and reinforcing the growing influence of Middle Eastern capital in the global technology race.
The funding came from Saudi Arabian AI company Humain and forms part of xAI’s broader $20 billion funding round, which closed shortly before the startup was absorbed into SpaceX, Musk’s privately held space exploration company.
Following the transaction, Humain becomes a significant minority shareholder in xAI, with its stake set to convert into SpaceX equity after the merger.
What they are saying
In a statement published on Wednesday by the company, it stated,
- “HUMAIN, a PIF company delivering full-stack artificial intelligence capabilities globally, today announced a $3 billion strategic investment in xAI as part of the company’s Series E financing round. The transaction represents a significant, end-to-end capital deployment for HUMAIN, reflecting continued momentum in its long-term investment strategy focused on category-defining technology platforms.
- “The investment comes at a highly compelling inflection point for xAI, preceding its acquisition by SpaceX in early February.
- “As a result of the Series E transaction, HUMAIN became a significant minority shareholder in xAI, with its holdings subsequently converted into shares in SpaceX.”
The latest capital injection highlights rising investor confidence in Musk’s fast-expanding technology ecosystem, even as xAI continues to build scale in a highly competitive AI market dominated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude.
xAI develops the Grok chatbot and provides AI services integrated into the X social media platform, positioning itself at the intersection of generative AI, real-time data, and social media distribution.
Backstory
In November 2025, Humain and xAI jointly announced plans to build a 500-megawatt data centre in Saudi Arabia, alongside initiatives to deploy xAI’s Grok models across the kingdom.
- In July 2025, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk raised $10 billion in new financing, split evenly between debt and equity.
- The transaction included $5 billion in secured notes and term loans arranged by Morgan Stanley, alongside $5 billion in strategic equity funding. Morgan Stanley said the debt tranche was oversubscribed, attracting strong demand from global institutional investors and signalling confidence in xAI’s growth prospects.
Earlier, in 2024, xAI completed a $6 billion Series B funding round, according to a company blog post. The round drew backing from leading global investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Fidelity Management & Research Company. Middle Eastern participation also featured prominently, led by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal through Kingdom Holding.
What you should know
Earlier in February, Musk disclosed that the combined valuation of SpaceX and xAI stood at approximately $1.25 trillion, showing the strategic importance of AI within his broader business empire.
Analysts note that the $3 billion Saudi investment not only strengthens xAI’s balance sheet but also offers access to long-term infrastructure partnerships and sovereign-backed demand for AI deployment.
- For Saudi Arabia, the deal aligns with its ambition to become a global AI hub as part of its wider economic diversification drive away from oil dependence.
- Humain was established in 2025 with backing from the kingdom’s sovereign wealth structures and has since embarked on an aggressive expansion strategy focused on compute capacity, data centres, and advanced AI partnerships.
Across the Gulf region, sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates collectively control more than $4 trillion in assets and are increasingly channeling capital into artificial intelligence.
