Two Democratic senators are calling for an urgent investigation into undeclared Chinese investments in SpaceX. While Elon Musk has just merged his space giant with xAI for $1.25 trillion, Washington is wondering: what if Beijing had already set a foot in the United States' most sensitive technologies?
In brief
- Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim call on the Pentagon to investigate Chinese participation in SpaceX.
- Beijing-linked investors allegedly concealed stock purchases through the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands.
- The SpaceX-xAI merger, announced this week, intensifies national security fears.
- The senators are demanding a response from the Ministry of Defense before February 20.
Senators worried about possible Chinese influence at SpaceX
Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim don't beat around the bush. In their letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the two senators denounce a murky financial arrangement. According to them, Chinese funds would have passed through Caribbean tax havens to discreetly buy shares in SpaceX.
The evidence is piling up. Press articles and court testimony point to the same scenario: entities established in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands serving as a screen to hide the real origin of the capital. A classic technique to circumvent American surveillance.
The problem goes beyond the simple financial question. SpaceX is not a company like any other. It deploys American military satellites, develops strategic space technologies and holds sensitive contracts with the Pentagon. Any foreign intrusion into its capital could compromise national security.
The FOCI rules come into play. These regulations on foreign ownership, control or influence impose strict safeguards when non-US investors touch strategic companies. Warren and Kim want to know if SpaceX is subject to them, and above all, if these rules are respected.
A fusion that thickens the mystery
The timing is the talk of Washington. Why is Musk announcing the SpaceX-xAI merger precisely now? For senators, this titanic operation makes the investigation even more urgent. It mixes space technologies, artificial intelligence and sensitive data in an explosive cocktail.
Musk defends his vision. AI must conquer space, he says, because terrestrial data centers are reaching their limits. Colossal energy consumption, polluting cooling systems, noise pollution: the billionaire wants to move the infrastructure into Earth's orbit. “ Spatial AI is the only path to optimal scaling “, he insists.
But skeptics see something else. They compare this merger with Tesla's controversial takeover of SolarCity in 2016. At the time, Musk was accused of using a successful company to save a failing one. A pattern that could repeat itself, with xAI burning hundreds of millions against Google and OpenAI.
Investors are waiting for answers. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States could look into the matter. Moreover, the case occurs while Musk is already facing French justice for his Grok AI, accused of generating illegal content. Regulators around the world are tightening the noose.
Washington will not joke about space sovereignty. The senators demand accountability before February 20 and threaten to go further. In this geopolitical chess game, SpaceX becomes a major issue where private ambitions and national interests intersect. Musk will have to choose: transparency or confrontation.
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