SpaceX Pours $19.6 Billion Into AI and Rocket Expansion

SpaceX reported $14.6 billion in third-quarter revenue, and artificial intelligence accounted for 52% of its income as the company expanded its data-center operations and shifted focus from its roots as a space company. Its renamed “Super Intelligence” business line generated $7.5 billion in revenue. Total capital expenditures reached $19.6 billion.

AI Revenue and Costs

The Super Intelligence business includes the recently acquired Cursor coding tool, the Grok bot and SpaceX’s growing neocloud business, which had 1.7 GW of compute. The AI business generated $431 million in profit. According to the report, that figure would have been higher without $1.2 billion in one-time stock-based compensation expenses tied to the Cursor acquisition.

TechCrunch reported that SpaceX’s data centers and Grok agents were more profitable than investors expected in the third quarter. The company also reported about $1 billion in income related to Bitcoin’s price recovery, along with unspecified related-party income that might be attributed to a SpaceX investment in another company.

SpaceX reported net income of $4.4 billion for the quarter, compared with a $1 billion loss in the same quarter last year. Still, it reported a net income loss of $413 million for the first nine months of the year. Those figures cover several sources of income and substantial capital spending; the report doesn’t break down labor costs or wages.

Capital Spending and Infrastructure

SpaceX was building a second data-center project, Colossus II, and increasing investment in Starship, its heavy-lift rocket. The company sees Starship as important to deploying a new generation of Starlink satellites and developing orbital data centers. CFO Bret Johnsen said SpaceX would spend $35 billion to $40 billion on new capital investments in the fourth quarter.

During a live-streamed discussion of the results with investors, CEO Elon Musk said he spent four days a week in Memphis, Tennessee, the site of Colossus II, working to bring the data center online. Musk said power, cooling and infrastructure—not chips—posed the bigger constraint on deploying super intelligence. He assigned SpaceX engineers to address it.

Musk said manufacturers of turbines used to power data centers faced 12 to 18 month delays in obtaining the metal blades and vanes needed for the machines. SpaceX used metal-casting capabilities it had developed for the company to make those components and obtain turbines more quickly. The report describes the company’s investment in infrastructure and equipment, but doesn’t identify a government action, union role, strike or other organized labor response connected to the expansion.

Forecasts and the Space Business

SpaceX expected the next Starship test flight in November and planned to try to recover both the first-stage booster and the second stage. Musk called recovering both segments a “massive technology milestone,” but said the true milestone would be reflying both stages. Starlink had 13.6 million consumer subscribers, and Musk predicted AI agents would increase demand for connectivity.

Musk predicted annual recurring revenue for the Super Intelligence business would reach “somewhere between $500 billion and $1 trillion” by the end of 2027. Johnsen forecast total first-quarter 2027 revenue of $33 billion to $37 billion. The report outlines those forecasts and the company’s spending plans, but identifies no reform proposal or public program related to the business. SpaceX’s reported results combine AI revenue, data-center investment, rocket development and satellite connectivity in a company increasingly focused on artificial intelligence.