Nov 18 (Reuters) -

Elon Musk's artificial-intelligence startup xAI is in

advanced talks to raise $15 billion in fresh equity at a

valuation of $230 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on

Tuesday.

The fundraising terms were outlined to investors by Musk's

wealth manager, Jared Birchall, on Tuesday night, the report

said. It was not clear whether the valuation figure Birchall

shared was pre- or post-money, the paper added.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Jared

Birchall could not be immediately reached. XAI, in what seemed

like an automated reply, said "Legacy Media Lies" in response to

a Reuters request for comment.

The new valuation would

more than double

xAI's $113 billion mark disclosed when it merged with

Musk's social-media platform X in March.

Musk last week

dismissed

as "false" a CNBC report claiming xAI was raising $15

billion in a Series E round valuing the firm at $200 billion.

The startup has been rapidly scaling its data-centre footprint

to train more advanced models as it tries to close the gap with

OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude. xAI, launched in July

2023 as a rival to OpenAI, is also investing heavily in

infrastructure, including property in Memphis, Tennessee, for

its planned Colossus supercomputer.

Musk has previously floated the idea of using Tesla

to back xAI, and Tesla shareholders approved an investment in

the startup

earlier this month

, though a large number abstained.

Investor appetite for AI companies remains robust despite

growing warnings of an AI bubble, fueled by soaring valuations

and aggressive spending plans.