---
title: "xAI's Colossus builders defect to OpenAI, leaving SpaceX with an $18.4 billion quarterly bill"
description: "Michael Roberson, who commissioned the Colossus, Macrohard and Macroharder clusters, joined OpenAI with four named colleagues as the xAI unit took a third name since February. The quarterly capex bill now sits on SpaceX's public books, beside a Pentagon conflict file."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Compute"
published: 2026-10-11T17:30:50.539Z
modified: 2026-10-11T17:30:50.539Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/xai-s-colossus-builders-defect-to-openai-leaving-spacex-with-an-18-4-billion-quarterly-bill
language: en
keywords: "OpenAI, XAI, SpaceX, Elon Musk, Data Centers, Policy"
---

# xAI's Colossus builders defect to OpenAI, leaving SpaceX with an $18.4 billion quarterly bill

> Michael Roberson, who commissioned the Colossus, Macrohard and Macroharder clusters, joined OpenAI with four named colleagues as the xAI unit took a third name since February. The quarterly capex bill now sits on SpaceX's public books, beside a Pentagon conflict file.

## OpenAI hires the Colossus commissioning lead

Michael Roberson ran end-to-end commissioning on [xAI](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/xai)'s [Colossus](https://theinference.org/article/musk-s-colossus-idles-at-11-and-rents-to-the-rivals-it-was-built-to-beat), Macrohard and Macroharder clusters. He [has joined OpenAI's infrastructure division](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/xais-michael-roberson-joins-openai-infrastructure-team-as-commissioning-program-manager/) to carry data centers "from construction through testing and into operations," he wrote, and four named SpaceXAI colleagues came with him: site lead Aakash Verma, Amin Golnabi, project manager Andrej Sulek and construction project manager Johnathan Henley. Roberson spent a year at the lab, left in April for three months at Fluidstack, then crossed over. [1]

## Third name in eight months

The unit they left has worn three names since February. [SpaceX](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/spacex) bought xAI on February 2, 2026, in a deal valuing the combined company at $1.25 trillion; Musk said in May the lab would be dissolved; SpaceXAI arrived July 6. [2]

The trigger came from Washington. On September 29 Trump ordered federal agencies to say "Super Intelligence" instead of artificial intelligence; on October 4 Musk posted that the name would become SpaceXSI. By October 11, per the one outlet reporting it, The Standard (Hong Kong), the unit read SpaceX Super Intelligence; as of October 6 there had been no formal announcement, only the posts. [2][3]

## The bill lands on SPCX shareholders

The label is free; the build is not. SpaceX, trading as SPCX, [spent $18.37 billion in the second quarter](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001181412) against $7.81 billion of revenue, $15.83 billion of it on AI compute, for a net loss of $541 million after a $4.95 billion loss the quarter before. [2][4]

*Chart: **The capex-revenue gap blew open with xAI inside SpaceX** Column chart of SpaceX quarterly capex and revenue for four reported quarters; capex climbs from $4.1 billion to $18.4 billion while revenue climbs to $7.8 billion.*

*As reported in SpaceX (SPCX) SEC filings, USD billions. Q3 and Q4 2025 were not reported on this basis around the February 2, 2026, xAI acquisition. [4][2]*

The AI division itself brought in $2.56 billion, up 247 percent. Starlink, the only profitable arm, was worth $2.2 trillion as of Friday on more than 12 million subscribers, the cushion under the lab's spending. [2][5]

## The war study, and the xAI stake its commissioner sold

On September 30 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commissioned Project Meridian, [a 120-day study of future war](https://www.npr.org/2026/10/06/nx-s1-5991899/elon-musk-palmer-luckey-pentagon-drones-ai) led by Musk, Palmer Luckey and Newt Gingrich, report due January 28, 2027. SpaceX holds more than $6.4 billion in active Pentagon contracts; [Anduril](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anduril), Luckey's firm, holds a counter-drone award worth up to $642 million. MITRE administers the study and reviews advisers' conflicts. [6][7]

The official Hegseth directed to commission it, Emil Michael, [sold an xAI stake disclosed at $500,000 to $1 million for $5 million to $25 million](https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/pentagon-top-ai-official-sold-155001522.html) on January 9, eighteen days after the agreement paving the way for Grok on GenAI.mil. NPR names him the Defense Department's chief technology officer; Yahoo News styles him undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. Representative Sam Liccardo is [pressing the Pentagon for answers](https://hoodline.com/2026/10/liccardo-presses-pentagon-over-musk-and-luckey-s-role-in-future-warfare-study/). [6][7][8]

## Full compliance, say officials; a massive conflict, say critics

Michael sold under a divestiture order issued December 18, and the Pentagon says its officials "are in full compliance with ethics laws and regulations," with MITRE applying "appropriate conflict-of-interest safeguards." Richard Painter, the Bush White House's ethics lawyer, says he "never saw anywhere near as many financial conflicts of interest in any other administration"; a former senior Defense Department official, granted anonymity, calls the arrangement "a massive conflict of interest." [7][8]

## Two dates settle it

Two dates settle it: the Q3 report, where AI revenue meets the $15.83 billion quarterly compute bill, and January 28, when Meridian lands. No source says the departures have slowed the build; the drain is visible, its cost is not. Congress is already circling the renamed lab's crown jewels, with Ro Khanna asking five firms, the Musk unit included, [how they guard model weights against Chinese theft](https://thenextweb.com/news/ai-firms-chinese-model-weight-theft). [2][9][10]

## Takeaway

OpenAI hired the commissioning lead behind xAI's Colossus and four named colleagues as the unit, renamed for a third time since February, put an $18.4 billion quarterly capex bill on SpaceX's public books against $7.8 billion of revenue.

## Sources

1. [Data Center Dynamics, xAI's Michael Roberson joins OpenAI infrastructure team as commissioning program manager, 9 October 2026](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/xais-michael-roberson-joins-openai-infrastructure-team-as-commissioning-program-manager/)
2. [Yahoo Finance / 24/7 Wall St., Elon Musk Is Renaming SpaceX's AI Arm for the Third Time. Shareholders Should Ask Why, 6 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/elon-musk-renaming-spacex-ai-200028720.html)
3. [The Standard (HK), Elon Musk renames SpaceXAI to SpaceX Super Intelligence, 11 October 2026](https://www.thestandard.com.hk/innovation/article/345136/Elon-Musk-renames-SpaceXAI-to-SpaceX-Super-Intelligence)
4. [SpaceX, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 11 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001181412)
5. [NBC News, Elon Musk's growing SpaceX empire sends AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile shares plunging, 10 October 2026](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/corporations/elon-musk-spacex-verizon-tmobile-att-rcna602525)
6. [Hoodline, Liccardo Presses Pentagon Over Musk and Luckey's Role in Future-Warfare Study, 10 October 2026](https://hoodline.com/2026/10/liccardo-presses-pentagon-over-musk-and-luckey-s-role-in-future-warfare-study/)
7. [NPR, Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey's new Pentagon roles raise ethics worries, 6 October 2026](https://www.npr.org/2026/10/06/nx-s1-5991899/elon-musk-palmer-luckey-pentagon-drones-ai)
8. [Yahoo News, Pentagon's Top AI Official Sold Millions in Tech Stock While Setting Military AI Policy, 2 September 2026](https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/pentagon-top-ai-official-sold-155001522.html)
9. [Xenospectrum, Congress Presses AI Firms on Model Weight Theft as New Research Targets Exfiltration, 10 October 2026](https://xenospectrum.com/en/model-weights-exfiltration-vs-data-breach/)
10. [The Next Web, US lawmaker asks five AI firms how they guard model weights from China, 1 October 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/ai-firms-chinese-model-weight-theft)


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xAI's Colossus builders defect to OpenAI, leaving SpaceX with an $18.4 billion quarterly bill — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/xai-s-colossus-builders-defect-to-openai-leaving-spacex-with-an-18-4-billion-quarterly-bill