SpaceX locks in $40B GPU financing deal with Apollo

SpaceX has reached a binding commitment for roughly $40 billion in financing for AI chips and related data center equipment, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday. SpaceX called the deal the “largest committed GPU financing” in a statement.

Under the agreement, an entity managed by Apollo Global Management, the New York-based private equity giant, will buy the chips and related server hardware, then lease the equipment to SpaceX. The leases will last about five to five-and-a-quarter years, beginning when each tranche of equipment is delivered, according to the filing.

SpaceX expects the deal to close by year-end, subject to closing conditions, with leases starting in the first half of 2027 as the GPUs and related equipment arrive.

The financing gives SpaceX another way to fund its rapidly expanding AI ambitions without relying solely on traditional debt markets.

“This lease diversifies our funding sources and addresses a notable portion of the funding required to deliver on our growth plans,” SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said in a statement Monday, noting it is seeing “less than one-year payback periods” on its AI infrastructure investments as it scales compute to power Grok and its cloud services.

Apollo said the financing will help deliver Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX’s “terrestrial compute buildout.”

The financing comes as SpaceX ramps spending to expand its AI infrastructure, alongside its Starlink and launch businesses.

The financing follows a blockbuster third quarter for SpaceX’s AI business. SpaceX’s AI segment, which includes the Grok chatbot, the Cursor coding tool and its cloud compute business, outperformed investor expectations in the third quarter and brought in $7.6 billion of SpaceX’s $14.6 billion in revenue, more than Starlink and rocket launches combined.

Capital expenditures also surged to nearly $20 billion, up from $6.9 billion a year earlier, as SpaceX races to expand its compute footprint. CFO Bret Johnsen said on the company’s Oct. 20 earnings call that SpaceX expects to spend $35 billion to $40 billion in the fourth quarter alone.

The massive lease comes after a tumultuous stretch in the debt markets for AI infrastructure players, as investors grow squeamish over runaway capital expenditures and limited profits.

While SpaceX had no trouble tapping Wall Street, Musk used the $40 billion announcement to take a victory lap over pure-play AI compute rivals.

Pointing to SpaceX’s “investment-grade” status and steady cash flow from Starlink and rocket launches, Musk argued on Sunday that debt markets have largely closed the door on companies without major revenue streams outside of AI data centers — spelling trouble for the more than 200 neocloud companies built solely to rent out GPUs for AI workloads.

“That means the 200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death and consolidation,” Musk wrote on X. “Some will make it through, but not many.”

Source: techcrunch.com