Connect with us

Published

on

Elon Musk speaks onstage during The New York Times Dealbook Summit 2023 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on November 29, 2023 in New York City. 

Slaven Vlasic | Getty Images

X.AI, an artificial intelligence startup founded by Elon Musk, has filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an equity offering.

The company has already brought in nearly $135 million from four investors, with the first sale occurring on Nov. 29, and has a “binding and enforceable agreement” for the purchase of the remaining shares, the filing says.

The AI startup, which Musk announced in July, seeks to “understand the true nature of the universe,” according to its website. Last month, X.AI released a chatbot called Grok, which the company says is modeled after “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” The chatbot debuted with two months of training and has real-time knowledge of the internet, the company claims.

“Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor!” X.AI wrote on its website, adding, “It will also answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems.”

The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

With Grok, X.AI aims to directly compete with companies including ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which Musk helped start before a conflict with co-founder Sam Altman led him to depart the project in 2018. It will also be vying with Google’s Bard technology and Anthropic’s Claude chatbot.

Earlier this year, Musk reportedly secured thousands of high-powered graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia, the kind of chips necessary to build a large language model.

X.AI is one of many companies owned or led by Musk. In addition to his control of X, previously Twitter, which he purchased last year, Musk is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. He also operates underground tunnel developer Boring Company and brain-tech startup Neuralink.

Last month, Musk said investors in X (formerly Twitter) would own 25% of X.AI.

“We are a separate company from X Corp, but will work closely with X (Twitter), Tesla, and other companies to make progress towards our mission,” X.AI says on its website.

People working on X.AI include alumni of DeepMind, OpenAI, Google Research, Microsoft Research, Twitter and Tesla. They’ve worked on projects including DeepMind’s AlphaCode and OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 chatbots, according to LinkedIn profiles.

Musk incorporated X.AI in Nevada in March, according to filings.

On a Tesla earnings call in July, here’s what Musk told analysts wondering about whether X.AI may compete with any of Tesla’s business:

“There were just some of the world’s best AI engineers and scientists that were willing to join a startup but they were not willing to join a large, sort of relatively established company like Tesla,” he said. “So I was like, OK well, better it’s a startup that I run than they go work somewhere else. That’s kind of the genesis of X.AI.”

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report

WATCH: Elon Musk’s X.AI launches ‘Grok’

Elon Musk's xAI launches chatbot ‘Grok’ to rival ChatGPT, others

Continue Reading

Technology

Apple Watch getting redesigned blood oxygen feature following legal dispute

Published

on

By

Apple Watch getting redesigned blood oxygen feature following legal dispute

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, US, on Monday, June 9, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple on Thursday announced a redesigned blood oxygen feature for some Apple Watch users, following a years-long intellectual property dispute over the capability.

Apple said the redesigned feature is coming to some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users on Thursday. The update was possible because of a recent U.S. Customs ruling, the company said.

In 2023, the International Trade Commission found that Apple’s blood oxygen sensors infringed on intellectual property from Masimo, a medical technology company. Apple paused the sale of some of its watches and began selling modified versions of the wearables without the blood oxygen feature.

“Apple’s teams work tirelessly to create products and services that empower users with industry-leading health, wellness, and safety features that are grounded in science and have privacy at the core,” the company said in a release announcing the feature rollout.

Read more CNBC tech news

Apple still has a lot of ways to deliver a premium AI experience, says T. Rowe Price's Tony Wang

Continue Reading

Technology

Bitcoin touches record, ether almost makes new high before rolling over

Published

on

By

Bitcoin touches record, ether almost makes new high before rolling over

Ether and bitcoin.

Yuriko Nakao | Getty Images

Bitcoin hit a new record late Wednesday as ether climbed even closer to its all-time high.

The flagship cryptocurrency rose as high as $124,496, surpassing its July record of 123,193.63, according to Coin Metrics. Ether rose to $4,791.19 overnight, edging closer to its 2021 record of $4,866.01.

Both coins took a hit Thursday, however, after July’s wholesale inflation data came in much hotter than expected. Bitcoin was lower by 3% at $118,481.00 while ether fell 2% to $4,629.20.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

hide content

Bitcoin hit a new record overnight, surpassing its July all-time high

The initial gains were sparked by Tuesday’s cooler-than-expected July inflation report, which had lifted investor optimism for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve at the end of its September policy meeting. The coins rallied with the stock market for two days. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also scaled new records.

For the week, bitcoin is on pace for a nearly 2% gain, while ether has rallied more than 14%. Ether flipped bitcoin as the crypto market leader in June, gaining 85% since then thanks to heavy institutional buying, tightening supply and adoption from corporate accumulators – all under the backdrop of a friendlier regulatory environment for the crypto industry. Jake Kennis, analyst at Nansen, said the rally likely has more room to run given the flows remain strong.

“Bitcoin hitting a fresh all time high and ETH being on the verge of doing so means we’ve moved from speculative mania to a phase where institutional adoption, real-world integration, and global liquidity are driving price discovery,” said Ben Kurland, CEO at crypto research and trading platform DYOR.

“The fact that both assets are on the verge of breaking records in tandem signals broad market conviction, not just a single-asset rally,” he added. “Momentum this strong rarely burns out instantly, but it also tends to draw in latecomers who can fuel volatility. Right now the story is less about euphoria and more about validation. Crypto is graduating from ‘alternative’ to ‘essential’ in the global portfolio mix.”

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro:

Continue Reading

Technology

AI demand boosts iPhone maker Foxconn’s second-quarter profit by 27%, beating forecasts

Published

on

By

AI demand boosts iPhone maker Foxconn's second-quarter profit by 27%, beating forecasts

Foxconn Hon Hai Technology Group signage during the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California, US, on Thursday, March 20, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, reported Thursday that its second-quarter operating profit rose 27% year over year, on the strength of its growing artificial intelligence server business.

Here’s how Foxconn did in the second quarter of 2025 compared with LSEG SmartEstimates, which are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate:

  • Revenue: 1.79 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($59.73 billion) vs. NT$1.79 trillion
  • Operating profit: NT$56.596 billion vs. NT$49.767 billion

Second quarter revenue grew 16% from last year, coming in line with LSEG’s SmartEstimates. The company’s net profit for the second quarter came in at NT$44.36 billion, beating expectations of NT$38.81 billion.

Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world’s largest manufacturer of Apple’s iPhones, and has been looking to replicate its success in consumer electronics in the world of AI.

The firm manufactures server racks designed for AI workloads and has become a key partner to American AI chip darling Nvidia.

Sales of Foxconn’s server products made up the lion’s share of revenues in the second quarter at 41%, surpassing its smart consumer electronic products for the first time, which accounted for 35%.

In an earnings report, the company forecasted that its AI server business would continue to drive growth into the current quarter, with revenue expected to increase by over 170% year over year.

Foxconn said earlier this month that it expected overall revenue to grow further in the third quarter, but noted that the impact of “evolving global political and economic conditions” would be closely monitored.

At the end of July, Foxconn announced that it was taking a stake in industrial motor maker TECO Electric & Machinery in a strategic partnership to build more AI data centers.

The company has also shown its willingness to expand into new areas, including the assembly of electric vehicles and the manufacturing of semiconductors.

However, U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariffs could impact Foxconn’s outlook this year. In response to Trump’s tariff threats, the company has already moved most of its final production of made-for-the-U.S. iPhones to India.

Taiwan has been hit with a 20% “temporary tariff” from the U.S., with trade negotiations said to be ongoing.

Last week, Trump also said he would impose a 100% tariff on imports of semiconductors and chips, but not on companies that are “building in the United States.”

While the details of these tariffs remain unclear, Foxconn Technology Co, a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry, announced plans to invest $1 billion in the U.S. over the next ten years as part of its North American expansion strategy, according to local media reports.

Continue Reading

Trending