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Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

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Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#21

Post by lmeyerov »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #15
BonoboIO wrote: post #7

How did Elon get so much NVIDIA hardware before everyone else?

> How did Elon get so much NVIDIA hardware before everyone else? He’s the richest man on the planet and doesn’t have a track record of not paying for shit he buys. If you want to reliably offload your chips, he’s safer than e.g. OpenAI who might or might not have the money when the bill comes due.

tesla not paying bills: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/31/us/elon-musk-company-unpaid-l...

x not paying bills: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/24/musks-twitter-has-been-sued-...

spacex not paying bills: https://www.fastcompany.com/91124157/spacex-contractors-texa...

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#22

Post by root-parent »

wnmurphy wrote: post #13

Which means more Grok degradation, more severe throttling, etc. I can't understand why xAI charges 50% more per month for Grok over competitors when it doesn't even gracefully downgrade to a cheaper model when paid subscribers hit the limit.

Who uses Grok? Not even SpaceX engineers that is known...

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#23

Post by ckastner »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #15
BonoboIO wrote: post #7

How did Elon get so much NVIDIA hardware before everyone else?

> How did Elon get so much NVIDIA hardware before everyone else? He’s the richest man on the planet and doesn’t have a track record of not paying for shit he buys. If you want to reliably offload your chips, he’s safer than e.g. OpenAI who might or might not have the money when the bill comes due.

> He’s the richest man on the planet and doesn’t have a track record of not paying for shit he buys.

My impression was the other way around. The shenanigans he pulled around the Twitter acquisition were just farcical, and at Twitter he repeatedly refused to pay owed rent, etc. (I assume as a ploy to renegotiate terms).

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#24

Post by root-parent »

lmeyerov wrote: post #21
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How did Elon get so much NVIDIA hardware before everyone else? He’s the richest man on the planet and doesn’t have a track record of not paying for shit he buys. If you want to reliably offload your chips, he’s safer than e.g. OpenAI who might or might not have the money when the bill comes due.

tesla not paying bills: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/31/us/elon-musk-company-unpaid-l... x not paying bills: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/24/musks-twitter-has-been-sued-... spacex not paying bills: https://www.fastcompany.com/91124157/spacex-contractors-texa...

It has been leaked the have a huge open bill with AWS....

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#25

Post by Analemma_ »

mschuster91 wrote: post #20
9dev wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you even want to use that dumpster fire of a model in the first place..?

Probably because it has all but zero filters on the input and output. It took widespread media outrage about "grok show me her in a bikini" to at least create a filter that bans such things. [1] https://counterhate.com/research/grok-floods-x-with-sexualiz...

Does the thing where it wanted to move every conversation onto the topic of "white genocide in South Africa" not count as a filter on the output?

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#26

Post by foobarian »

jeffbee wrote: post #4

I thought it was notable that in Google's press release yesterday regarding their new facilities near Amarillo they seemed to go out of their way to point out that the applications are not AI, listing "Search, Gmail, Maps, Cloud, online banking, and 911 systems" instead. I wonder if they find it more convenient to rent an existing one rather than face public scrutiny for building another "AI data center".

I wonder if they are more than happy to let someone else take on the burden of the massive writedowns that are bound to hit in a couple of years.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#27

Post by jeffbee »

harmmonica wrote: post #18

Tangent alert: a couple of questions for folks who know far more than I do about compute capacity and Google these days... Lately, like the past few months, I've noticed Google services (search, gmail, drive, maps) running very slowly to the point where, at the moment it happens, I always think it has to be my connection and not Google, but sure enough every time I check a couple of speed tests and they're... fine. A…

Do you still perceive search and maps to be slow even when logged out?

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#28

Post by singron »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6
sandeepkd wrote: post #3

> SpaceX said in the filing that if it fails to “deliver access to the committed amount of GPUs by September 30, 2026,” Google can immediately end the agreement, or accept the number of GPUs provided at a reduced fee after a one-month grace period. > After this year, the agreement can be terminated by either party provided they give 90 days’ notice. Circular financing at its peak for the IPO. There has to be some reg…

> Circular financing Circular financing would require SpaceX to buy a similar quantity of stuff from Google. (Or invest in Google.) We have no evidence of that. Instead this looks like Google taking advantage of SpaceX’s desire to print revenue today versus a month from now. (If the agreement is terminated with no exchange of goods, it might be market manipulation. But still not circular financing.)

It's circular since Google owns part of SpaceX. According to [1] they own 7% of SpaceX, so a $1.75T IPO would value their stake at $120B. The target IPO price is >90x revenue, so if Google increases SpaceX's revenue by $11B, SpaceX's valuation could increase by $990B to maintain the same multiple, which would increase the value of Google's stake by $69B.

1: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/alphabet-s...

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#29

Post by sandeepkd »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6
sandeepkd wrote: post #3

> SpaceX said in the filing that if it fails to “deliver access to the committed amount of GPUs by September 30, 2026,” Google can immediately end the agreement, or accept the number of GPUs provided at a reduced fee after a one-month grace period. > After this year, the agreement can be terminated by either party provided they give 90 days’ notice. Circular financing at its peak for the IPO. There has to be some reg…

> Circular financing Circular financing would require SpaceX to buy a similar quantity of stuff from Google. (Or invest in Google.) We have no evidence of that. Instead this looks like Google taking advantage of SpaceX’s desire to print revenue today versus a month from now. (If the agreement is terminated with no exchange of goods, it might be market manipulation. But still not circular financing.)

> Alphabet has made a windfall from backing SpaceX. Musk’s company was worth $12 billion at the time of Google’s 2015 investment

How come its not a circular deal where google is investing little bit more money to make a whole lot more money

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#30

Post by [deleted] »

etempleton wrote: post #17
superkuh wrote: post #8

Another way to read this is, "Twitter's AI dept. has been doing so badly they don't have a use for billions of dollars of hardware they bought."

The downfall of Twitter is one of the most spectacular self inflicted business failures I have ever witnessed. Amazing to think it was once so ingrained in mainstream society.

[deleted]
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