On Sunday, Elon Musk said SpaceX had raised $40 billion in debt to buy graphics processing units for AI systems. In a post on X, he wrote: "This is primarily callable debt for GPU purchases that will arrive in Q1 and Q2. Not a major factor this quarter". He credited the company's investment-grade rating and income from Starlink and rocket launches for keeping access to credit intact.
Earlier reports described the financing talks. Bloomberg said SpaceX was working with banks and investors to raise $40 billion for Nvidia chips, citing people familiar with the matter. The plan, according to Bloomberg, involved a special purpose vehicle that would keep the debt off SpaceX's balance sheet and protect its investment-grade credit ratings. Goldman Sachs was leading discussions with investors including Apollo Global Management, Bloomberg reported. Reuters had earlier reported that SpaceX was in talks with banks and asset managers for $40 billion to buy Nvidia AI chips. The scale of the deal shows how much capital AI requires, with technology companies committing billions to advanced chips and data centers. Economic Times reported that tech companies are racing to secure advanced processors and build out computing infrastructure.
SpaceX has expanded into AI this year, calling the effort "Super Intelligence" or SI. The business became the company's largest unit, with third-quarter revenue going from $813 million a year earlier to $7.56 billion, a ninefold rise, according to SpaceX's earnings release. Company revenue for the September quarter reached $14.58 billion, up 161% from a year earlier. Capital expenses nearly tripled to $19.6 billion. Economic Times said that quarter supplied the strongest sign so far that SpaceX's AI spending is generating income.
Musk said debt markets have largely stopped lending to companies that do not have meaningful revenue outside AI data centers. Neocloud providers offer cloud infrastructure for AI and machine learning workloads. More than 200 of them will experience failures and consolidation, with only a few left standing, Musk predicted.
SpaceX is also developing its own chip supply. Terafab, the Austin-based chip manufacturing venture between SpaceX and Tesla, expects a first test chip around May or June next year and volume production by the third quarter of 2028. Before its blockbuster IPO, SpaceX included "manufacturing our own GPUs" among major capital expenses in its S-1 filing. The filing warned prospective investors about the company's planned spending on AI and other technologies.
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Sam Okafor covers capital markets, public listings and corporate finance for Venturist. He writes from filings, earnings releases and published reporting.