SpaceX Beats Forecasts as Revenue and Spending Rise

SpaceX has released its first quarterly earnings report, revealing significant growth in revenue and a reduction in operating losses for the second quarter of 2026. The company, led by Elon Musk, reported earnings of $7.8 billion, surpassing the expected $7 billion and marking a roughly 90% increase from the previous year.

Despite the strong earnings, SpaceX continued its substantial investment, with capital expenditure rising to $18 billion from $2.83 billion a year prior. A significant portion, over 86%, of this spending was directed towards its artificial intelligence division. The company's Starlink internet satellite service was a primary contributor to its total revenue, boasting 12 million subscribers, double the number from the previous year. SpaceX highlighted partnerships with major airlines like Aer Lingus, United Airlines, and American Airlines.

The company attributed its robust results to AI computing deals and the expansion of its Starlink satellite network. Earnings from SpaceX's AI business, which Musk has identified as a key future growth engine, surged by approximately 250%. The AI division, encompassing the social network X, the Grok chatbot, and data centers, is projected to become the company's leading revenue source by the September quarter. AI operating losses, along with total operating losses, narrowed to $143 million from $970 million.

"We're building AI compute capacity at a scale faster than anyone else, we believe, and we're significantly improving our AI models," Musk stated during a post-earnings call. SpaceX has secured agreements to lease unused computing power to companies such as Anthropic and Google. CFO Bret Johnsen indicated these deals are expected to generate an additional $6.7 billion in computing leases over the six months starting in October. Notably, AI lab Anthropic began paying $1.25 billion monthly to use SpaceX's Colossus data center near Memphis, Tennessee, with Google set to pay $920 million monthly for computing power.

Following the release of the results, SpaceX shares experienced a dip of 7.5% in after-hours trading, despite a 9.4% rise during regular trading hours. The stock may face further pressure from the expiry of SpaceX's post-IPO lock-up period, which allows a portion of employees to sell their shares. SpaceX has faced challenges in maintaining investor confidence since its record IPO, which valued the company at approximately $1.75 trillion.

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We're building AI compute capacity at a scale faster than anyone else, we believe, and we're significantly improving our AI models.