Oman Investment Authority takes stake in Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI
Daniel Levi
Posted On December 18, 2024
The Oman Investment Authority (OIA), the sovereign wealth fund of Oman, has taken a stake in xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup. OIA, which already holds shares in Musk’s SpaceX, announced the deal through the Omani state news agency on Wednesday, according to a report from Reuters. However, the size of the investment was not revealed.
This announcement follows reports last month about xAI exploring a significant investment from Nvidia to accelerate the development of its large language model, Grok. The Wall Street Journal also reported that xAI was in talks to raise billions from other investors, which could bring the company’s valuation to approximately $40 billion.
Musk, with a net worth of $486 billion, has positioned xAI to focus on creating advanced AI models for practical applications. This aligns with Oman’s ambitions to establish itself as a regional leader in the AI sector.
In August, Oman introduced a draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy, aimed at guiding the development and use of AI technologies. The initiative is part of a broader strategy to boost the digital economy’s share of GDP from 2% in 2021 to 10% by 2040.
OIA’s investment in xAI continues its history of backing Musk’s ventures. The fund previously invested in SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace company, in December 2021.
Earlier this year, xAI secured $6 billion in funding, bringing its valuation to $24 billion. That round saw participation from notable figures and entities, including Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Kingdom Holding.
Musk’s ventures have also attracted investments from other Gulf entities. During his acquisition of Twitter (now X) in October 2022, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal rolled over a $1.9 billion stake into the privately held company, while the Qatar Investment Authority contributed $375 million.
In 2020, Abu Dhabi-based IHC acquired a 94% stake in Falcon CI IV LP, a private equity fund with investments in SpaceX, highlighting the region’s growing financial commitment to Musk’s companies.
Launched last year, xAI aims to be a “maximum truth-seeking AI.” The rollout of Grok for Premium+ subscribers showed Musk’s ambition to shake up the AI field, as he discussed with Lex Fridman, expressing disappointment in OpenAI’s shift away from its nonprofit, open-source origins.
