July 12 (Reuters) - SpaceX has committed $2 billion to xAI as part of a $5 billion equity round, deepening the ties between tech billionaire Elon Musk's ventures as his artificial intelligence startup races to compete with rival OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

According to a Wall Street Journal report that cites investors close to SpaceX, the company has agreed to invest $2 billion in Musk’s AI startup xAI. The investment would reportedly be part of the $5 billion equity raise (along with another $5 billion in debt) that Morgan Stanley announced at the end of June.

Tesla Inc. plans to poll shareholders on whether to invest in xAI, Elon Musk said after the Wall Street Journal reported SpaceX was prepared to funnel $2 billion into the Grok chatbot developer.