Elon Musk Turns Talk to the Moon Amid xAI Turmoil

With co-founders leaving and an IPO looming, Musk envisions a lunar manufacturing facility for his AI company.

Published on Feb. 11, 2026

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According to reports, Elon Musk gathered employees of his AI company xAI and told them the company needs a lunar manufacturing facility to build AI satellites and launch them into space via a giant catapult. Musk acknowledged the company is in flux, with six of xAI's 12 founding members having now left the young company. The timing of Musk's comments comes as xAI co-founders Tony Wu and Jimmy Ba announced their departures. Despite the turmoil, Musk expressed confidence that xAI is moving faster than any other company in the AI space.

Why it matters

Musk's focus on the moon represents a shift from SpaceX's previous emphasis on Mars. The lunar ambitions are seen as inseparable from xAI's core mission to build the world's most powerful AI model trained on real-world data. However, the legal framework around extracting resources from the moon remains uncertain, and Musk's vision faces questions about its achievability and who will help him get there as his team keeps getting smaller.

The details

Musk told xAI employees the company needs a lunar manufacturing facility to build AI satellites and launch them into space via a giant catapult. He said this would help xAI harness more computing power than any rival. Musk acknowledged the company is in flux, with six of xAI's 12 founding members having now left. The departures of co-founders Tony Wu and Jimmy Ba came just days before Musk's comments.

  • On Monday night, xAI co-founder Tony Wu announced he was leaving.
  • Less than a day later, another xAI co-founder, Jimmy Ba, who reported directly to Musk, said he was leaving too.
  • This past Sunday, just before the Super Bowl, Musk posted that SpaceX had 'shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon.'

The players

Elon Musk

The CEO of xAI and SpaceX who is driving the company's shift in focus to the moon.

Tony Wu

A co-founder of xAI who announced he was leaving the company on Monday night.

Jimmy Ba

Another xAI co-founder who reported directly to Musk and announced his departure less than a day after Wu.

Mary-Jane Rubenstein

A professor of science and technology studies at Wesleyan University who discussed the legal framework around extracting resources from the moon.

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What they’re saying

“You have to go to the moon. It's difficult to imagine what an intelligence of that scale would think about, but it's going to be incredibly exciting to see it happen.”

— Elon Musk (The New York Times)

“If you're moving faster than anyone else in any given technology arena, you will be the leader, and xAI is moving faster than any other company — no one's even close.”

— Elon Musk (The New York Times)

“It's more like saying you can't own the house, but you can have the floorboards and the beams. Because the stuff that is in the moon is the moon.”

— Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Wesleyan University (TechCrunch)

What’s next

The judge in the case will decide on Tuesday whether or not to allow Walker Reed Quinn out on bail.

The takeaway

Musk's lunar ambitions for xAI represent a significant shift in focus from the company's previous emphasis on Mars, as he seeks to build the world's most powerful AI model trained on real-world data. However, the legal framework around extracting resources from the moon remains uncertain, and Musk faces challenges in reorganizing the company amid the departure of key co-founders.