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Private company

X Development

Logo: X Development LLC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

American research and development company

X Development LLC, doing business as X (formerly Google X), is an American semi-secret research and development facility and organization founded by Google in January 2010. X has its headquarters about a mile and a half from Google's corporate headquarters, the Googleplex, in Mountain View, California. According to an official blog post from the company, X's mission is to "invent and launch 'moonshot' technologies that [they] hope could make the world a radically better place.2 It was founded by Sebastian Thrun.1 It is part of Alphabet Inc.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2010Founded1
  • Industryresearch and development1
  • HeadquartersMountain View1
  • Websitex.company
  • Legal formDelaware corporation1

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X Development LLC, doing business as X (formerly Google X), is an American semi-secret research and development facility and organization founded by Google in January 2010. X has its headquarters about a mile and a half from Google's corporate headquarters, the Googleplex, in Mountain View, California.2

Corporate structure

X Development is part of a group headed by Alphabet Inc.. 137 entities, 26 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries listed in Exhibit 21 of annual reports filed with the SEC; subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

Founded by Sebastian Thrun in 2010.1

Leadership

Who has led X Development, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Products and brands

  • artificial intelligence

Listed on Wikidata.1

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Owners

Former owners and parents

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. 2013Acquired Boston Dynamics1

A number of companies have been acquired and merged into X, covering a diverse range of skills including wind turbines, robotics, artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, robotic arms, and computer vision. In 2013, X acquired Makani Power, a US company which developed tethered wings/kites with mounted wind turbines for low cost renewable energy generation. In 2014, it acquired product design and mechanical engineering firm Gecko Design, whose previous products included the Fitbit activity tracker and low-cost computers. As of 2015, X has acquired 14 companies, including Redwood Robotics, Meka Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Bot & Dolly, and Jetpac. In June 2017, X sold Boston Dynamics to SoftBank Group, which sold it to Hyundai Motor Company in December 2020.

From Wikipedia’s article on X Development, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. Oct 2, 2015Acquired Acquired by Alphabet Inc.1
  2. 2010Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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