SpaceX works with Apollo, Nvidia on new Grok partnership program

SpaceX is working with Apollo Global Management, Nvidia Corp. and dozens of other firms on a new partnership program to deploy and improve its Grok AI systems, part of a bid to bolster business adoption of its artificial intelligence offerings.

More than 130 companies gained early access to the Super Intelligence Partner Network, SpaceX said Thursday, including tech firms like Snowflake Inc. and Databricks Inc. as well as consultancies such as Bain & Co. and Booz Allen Hamilton. Galatiq, a firm that provides forward-deployed engineers to help bring Grok’s technology to companies, is also part of the program.

Elon Musk’s space, satellite communications and AI conglomerate — long viewed as far behind rivals OpenAI and Anthropic PBC — surprised Wall Street this week by reporting a profit in its artificial intelligence unit in the most recent quarter. Those results were mainly tied to the computing deals SpaceX has struck for its data centres in Memphis.

But executives, including Musk, said that the adoption of Grok products — including its Grok Bot agent — has been on the rise. Grok Bot had more than 800,000 paid weekly users as of October, doubling from the prior month, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said during the Tuesday earnings call.

Companies are “increasingly using Grok Bot as a force multiplier across sales, marketing, IT and engineering, treating it as an always-on teammate for complex end-to-end workflows,” Shotwell said.

SpaceX has worked to gain ground in AI by acquiring Cursor, a leading AI coding startup, and leaning on relationships with firms in Musk’s orbit to expand its customer base. Apollo and Nvidia, for example, have been involved with SpaceX and Musk for some time. The asset manager was among the first Wall Street firms to test Grok internally, Bloomberg has reported, following a financing it did for SpaceX’s AI unit tied to its chip usage.