31/01/2026

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BIZ & FINANCE SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2026

SpaceX in merger talks ahead of IPO

decision-making and planning.

Wednesday and Thursday but was last up 1.18%, a day after authorities announced the proposed measures to address MSCI’s concern and ease investor worry. The rupiah was last at 16,790 to the US dollar, hovering near its weakest ever rate of 16,985 set last week. Someone had to take responsibility for the loss of confidence, said Mohit Mirpuri, portfolio manager at SGMC Capital in Singapore, referring to Iman. “The bigger picture is a reset and an opportunity for the exchange to emerge stronger with clearer standards and governance,“ Mirpuri said. Foreign capital outflows have increased due to concern about how the cost of generating the computing power that runs and trains AI models such as xAI’s Grok. Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has announced a high-capacity backbone network of thousands of satellites, while Google is researching space-based data centres under Project Suncatcher. Speaking in Davos, Switzerland last week, Musk – whose timing projections are rarely realized – said “the lowest cost place to put AI will be in space. And that will be true within two years, maybe three at the latest.” Building data centres in space is a risky proposition considering AI is evolving rapidly and unpredictably. Analysts and executives have questioned whether envisioned cuts in energy consumption are worth the cost of tailoring systems for space. Folding in xAI could also boost SpaceX’s prospects for contracts at the Pentagon, which has sought to ramp up AI adoption in military networks, said Caleb Henry of space research and advisory Quilty Analytics. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this month visited SpaceX’s Starbase development site in Texas where he said xAI’s language model and chat platform Grok will be integrated into military networks as part of an “AI acceleration strategy” aimed at speeding up military

market,“ Iman told a press conference. “Hopefully, the index, which opened positively this morning, will continue to improve in the coming days.” The Financial Services Authority (OJK) will ensure Iman’s resignation does not affect operations, an OJK official told reporters. It will take the lead in implementing reforms and aims to resolve the MSCI’s concerns by May, the official said. “We remind all investors to remain calm and rational when making investment decisions,“ said Inarno Djajadi, who overseas capital markets at the regulator. The benchmark Jakarta Composite Index dropped more than 8% on momentum to efforts to launch data centres into orbit, a key goal in the escalating AI race against the likes of OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Alphabet’s Google. Some Tesla shareholders have long advocated bringing Musk’s companies together. Bloomberg reported that investors have been pushing the idea of joining SpaceX and Tesla. “Musk has too many separate companies,” said Dennis Dick, chief market strategist at Stock Trader Network. “A major risk thesis for Tesla is that Musk is spreading himself out too much. As a Tesla shareholder, I applaud further consolidation.” Under a SpaceX-xAI merger, xAI shares would be exchanged for SpaceX shares. Two entities have been established in Nevada to facilitate, said the person briefed on the matter, requesting anonymity because discussions are confidential. Filings showed those entities were set up on Jan 21 but did not detail their purpose or role in any deal. One lists SpaceX and its chief financial officer Bret Johnsen as managing members. The other lists Johnsen as sole officer. Data centres in space Space-based AI processing, powered by solar energy, is aimed at cutting

o A deal with xAI could unite rockets, satellites, social media and AI under one umbrella

Latest merger between Musk companies Musk already has been combining businesses. In 2016, he used Tesla stock to buy solar-energy company SolarCity. Last year, he folded X into xAI in a share swap that gave the AI startup access to the microblog’s data and distribution. xAI also received a US$2 billion investment commitment from SpaceX as part of a US$5 billion equity fundraising, the Wall Street Journal reported last year. This month, xAI raised US$20 billion in an upsized Series E funding round, exceeding its US$15 billion target at a valuation of US$230 billion. It also gained a commitment of about US$2 billion from Tesla on Wednesday. Ross Gerber, CEO of Tesla and xAI investor Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, said he could envision a marriage of Musk businesses.

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s chief economic minister promised increased financial market transparency and improved corporate governance yesterday, after the stock exchange chief resigned to take responsibility for a US$80 billion (RM314 billion) share rout. Airlangga Hartarto, at a news conference, said authorities were committed to stock market reform and that the country’s economic fundamentals remained sound. Proposed improvement measures include doubling the free float requirement of shares to 15%, allowing pension and insurance funds to increase capital market investment to 20% of their portfolio from 8%, and NEW YORK: SpaceX is exploring deals with other companies helmed by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, leaving investors working through permutations between space, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence to analyse which combination makes the most sense. The rocket maker is in discussions to merge with xAI ahead of a blockbuster public offering planned for this year, Reuters reported on Thursday. The combination would bring Musk’s rockets, Starlink satellites, X social media platform and Grok chatbot under one roof, according to a person briefed on the matter and two regulatory filings. SpaceX is also considering a merger with Musk’s electric vehicle maker Tesla, Bloomberg reported. “I think it’s highly likely that (xAI) ends up with one of the two parties,” said Tesla shareholder Gene Munster, who is managing partner at xAI investor Deepwater Asset Management.

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checking the affiliation of shareholders with ownership of less than 5%. “The government guarantees protection for all investors by maintaining good governance and transparency,“ Airlangga said. Index provider MSCI flagged a possible downgrade of Indonesian stocks to “frontier” status on Wednesday due to concern about share ownership and trading transparency, triggering the steepest two-day share price fall since April. Indonesia Stock Exchange CEO Iman Rachman resigned yesterday. “I hope this is the best decision for the capital market. May my resignation lead to improvement in our capital neurotechnology firm Neuralink. “What’s important for Elon is to have a massive vision that’s way out there that he’s early on,” Munster said. A compelling prospect would be Tesla taking xAI which would improve the EV maker’s robot and self-driving car plans, he said. Predictions hub Polymarket late on Thursday put the chance of a SpaceX-xAI merger by mid-year at 48% and Tesla-xAI merger at 16%. Musk, SpaceX, xAI and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Tesla’s share price rose 3% in after hours trade. SpaceX plans to go public some time this year with a valuation likely above US$1 trillion (RM3.9 trillion), Reuters and other media reported. It is the world’s most-valuable privately held company – at US$800 billion in a recent private share sale. xAI was valued at US$230 billion in November, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tesla’s market capitalisation is US$1.4 trillion.

“It’s like a bunch of overvalued companies merging together into one big overvalued mess run by Elon. But it’s a pure play now. It’s like, you want to invest in Elon? Here you go. Like, you get all this. And it’s much more attractive, actually, as an investment.” – Reuters Indonesia vows reforms, bourse chief quits after US$80b market rout For SpaceX, a massive deal may complicate its IPO but add Musk, the world’s richest man, is CEO of SpaceX and artificial intelligence company xAI, which controls X. He also runs Tesla, tunnel

President Prabowo Subianto is widening the fiscal deficit and expanding state involvement in financial markets. This month’s appointment of his nephew Thomas Djiwandono to the central bank and last year’s firing of respected finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati have shaken confidence in Prabowo’s stewardship. Regulators said communication with MSCI has been positive and that they were awaiting a response to their proposed measures which they hoped to implement soon. Their swift action appears to have allayed investor concern but sentiment remains fragile. – Reuters

Education retains its importance in the Malaysian landscape for parents, students and stakeholders. The changes are fast paced with new developments in new fields of study such as cybersecurity, data protection, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning in education, digital education and artificial Intelligence. Leading the way are universities, who are invited to showcase their latest programmes, curriculum and content in our Education Focus for 2026.

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