SpaceX-Tesla merger chatter reignites as Musk pushes rocket company towards Nasdaq

As Elon Musk prepares to lead a second trillion-dollar company into the public market, a move that will likely put him in charge of two of the 10 most valuable U.S. enterprises, chatter is building that Musk's ultimate goal is to combine the entities into one. SpaceX is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq in just over two weeks after obtaining a private market valuation of $1.25 trillion earlier this year, when it merged with xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company. Tesla's market cap currently sits at around $1.6 trillion. The two companies already have a laundry list of shared resources, and Musk has discussed with colleagues the possibility of folding the companies together, according to people familiar with the talks who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic. A current Tesla employee told CNBC that many workers at the electric vehicle company have long expected such a transaction to eventually take place and that the topic is openly discussed internally. Another person close to the company said that shared challenges tied to power and compute constraints have led to regular collaborations. While a company launching rockets based on contracts with the government may not seem to have a lot in common with an EV manufacturer, both of the businesses are increasingly focused on AI and the talent and computing resources necessary to build AI infrastructure and services. …