SpaceX has sharply increased purchases of Tesla Megapacks, and TechCrunch reports that the batteries are likely being deployed for xAI data centers. According to SpaceX’s earnings report, the company spent $295 million on Megapacks in the second quarter and $329 million so far this year.
The purchases show how tightly Elon Musk’s companies are becoming linked around AI infrastructure. SpaceX now owns xAI, while Musk also leads Tesla. Before the merger, xAI had already bought $430 million worth of Megapacks for its data centers, according to the report.
Large batteries matter because AI data centers do not draw power evenly. Training and inference workloads can cause fast demand spikes as GPUs ramp up and down. Megapacks can provide backup power and help smooth those peaks, reducing utility charges and protecting operations from instability.
The report also notes that xAI has relied heavily on natural gas at some sites, including unpermitted turbines near its Colossus data center project. Batteries do not solve every energy concern, but they are becoming part of the infrastructure stack required to keep large AI compute clusters running.