SpaceX-xAI Merger and OpenAI Financing Highlight Capital-Driven AI Race (NVDA, AMZN, X, META)

SpaceX and xAI confirmed a merger effective February 15, 2026, creating a $10B+ entity integrating SpaceX's cash-generating Starlink to加速 xAI's fundraising. The arrangement follows Musk's pattern of using SpaceX as a crown jewel and reflects ongoing investor demand for stakes in the space-AI complex despite governance risks and the group's continued high burn. Concurrently, OpenAI is closing a new funding round valued at over $8T, securing commitments from Amazon (AMZN), NVIDIA (NVDA), and SoftBank. SoftBank's stake exceeds $400B, and NVIDIA is expected to invest about $200B in this round. While OpenAI remains highly dependent on NVIDIA GPUs, it is diversifying inference workloads to meet surging demand and reduce reliance on any single supplier.