(Reuters) -Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI is working with a financier to secure up to $12 billion more for its expansion plans, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the situation.

Valor Equity Partners, an investment firm whose founder, Antonio Gracias, has close ties to Musk, is in talks with lenders to raise the capital, according to the report.

The money would be used to buy a massive supply of advanced Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips that would be leased to xAI for a new massive data center meant to help train and power AI chatbot Grok, the WSJ reported.

XAI and Valor Equity Partners did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)