XAI Undergoes Major Engineering Overhaul Ahead of SpaceX IPO

Elon Musk's AI firm xAI is restructuring its teams as it merges closer with SpaceX before the space giant's blockbuster public offering.

Apr. 9, 2026 at 4:07am

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A highly detailed, glowing 3D illustration of an intricate AI neural network architecture, with illuminated circuit boards, fiber optic cables, and data processing units in a palette of neon cyan, magenta, and electric blue, conceptually representing the complex technological infrastructure powering xAI's AI models.As xAI races to restructure and integrate with SpaceX ahead of the space company's blockbuster IPO, the AI firm is overhauling its technological backbone to keep pace with rivals.Palo Alto Today

Elon Musk's AI company xAI is restructuring its engineering teams as it merges closer with SpaceX ahead of the space company's expected IPO. SpaceX executive Michael Nicholls has taken on the title of xAI president, and the company is bringing in new leadership to oversee model training, product development, and infrastructure. The changes come as xAI has lost several co-founders and senior leaders in recent months, with Musk aiming to rebuild the company 'from the ground up' to keep pace with AI rivals like OpenAI and Google.

Why it matters

The stakes are high for xAI as it races to restructure and improve its technical capabilities ahead of SpaceX's highly anticipated IPO, which could value the combined entity at over $2 trillion. The reorganization reflects Musk's urgency to get xAI on more stable footing and catch up to competitors in the fast-moving AI landscape.

The details

According to an internal memo, the new engineering leadership at xAI includes Devendra Chaplot overseeing model pre-training, Aman Madaan leading model factory and tooling, Aditya Gupta heading post-training and reinforcement learning, and Beibin Li leading post-training for the Grok Code product. The product team will be led by Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsburg, while physical and compute infrastructure will be overseen by Jake Palmer and Daniel Dueri, respectively. Several SpaceX employees have also taken on key roles at xAI as part of the reorganization.

  • In February 2026, Elon Musk first reorganized xAI after the company was acquired by SpaceX.
  • Since January 2026, eight of xAI's co-founders have left the company, including Ross Nordeen, Guodong Zhang, Manuel Kroiss, and Toby Pohlen.
  • In March 2026, Musk said xAI 'was not built right the first time around, so is being rebuilt from the foundations up.'

The players

Michael Nicholls

The senior vice president of Starlink at SpaceX, who has taken on the title of xAI president.

Devendra Chaplot

A former researcher at Facebook and Thinking Machines Labs, who joined xAI last month and will lead model pre-training.

Aman Madaan

Will oversee model factory and tooling, including the infrastructure, data pipelines, and training workflows used to develop and improve AI models at xAI.

Aditya Gupta

Will head post-training and reinforcement learning at xAI.

Beibin Li

A former researcher at Microsoft and Meta, will lead post-training for Grok Code at xAI.

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What’s next

SpaceX is expected to file an initial public offering this year, which could value the combined SpaceX-xAI entity at over $2 trillion.

The takeaway

The major engineering overhaul at xAI reflects Elon Musk's urgency to get the AI firm on more stable footing and catch up to competitors in the fast-moving AI landscape ahead of SpaceX's highly anticipated IPO.