SpaceX has reached a binding commitment of approximately $40 billion in funding for AI chips and related data center equipment, the company revealed in a regulatory filing Monday. In a statement, SpaceX called the deal “the largest committed GPU funding.”
Under the terms of the deal, an entity managed by Apollo Global Management, the New York-based private equity giant, will purchase the chips and associated server hardware and then lease the equipment to SpaceX. The leases will last approximately five to five and a quarter years, commencing upon delivery of each tranche of equipment, according to the filing.
SpaceX expects the deal to close by the end of the year, subject to closing conditions, with leases beginning in the first half of 2027 as GPUs and associated equipment arrive.
This funding gives SpaceX another way to fund its expanding AI ambitions without relying solely on traditional debt markets.
“This lease diversifies our funding sources and covers a notable portion of the funding required to realize our growth plans,” SpaceX Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said in a statement Monday, noting that it expects “payback periods of less than one year” on its AI infrastructure investments as it scales compute to power Grok and its cloud services.
Apollo said the funding would help deliver Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX’s “earth computing development.”
The funding comes as SpaceX increases spending to develop its AI infrastructure, alongside its Starlink and launch activities.
The funding follows a successful third quarter for SpaceX’s AI business. SpaceX’s AI segment, which includes chatbot Grok, coding tool Cursor and its cloud computing business, outperformed investors’ expectations in the third quarter and generated $7.6 billion of SpaceX’s $14.6 billion in revenue, more than Starlink and rocket launches combined.
Capital spending also jumped to nearly $20 billion, from $6.9 billion a year earlier, as SpaceX works to expand its computing footprint. Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said during the company’s Oct. 20 earnings conference call that SpaceX plans to spend between $35 billion and $40 billion in the fourth quarter alone.
The massive lease comes after a tumultuous period in the debt markets for AI infrastructure players, as investors increasingly balk at runaway capital spending and limited profits.
While SpaceX had no trouble exploiting Wall Street, Musk used the $40 billion announcement to score a victory over his pure-play AI rivals.
Pointing to SpaceX’s investment grade status and stable cash flows generated by Starlink and rocket launches, Musk argued Sunday that debt markets have largely closed the door to companies that don’t have major revenue streams outside of AI data centers — posing problems for the more than 200 neocloud companies created solely to lease GPUs for AI workloads.
“This means that more than 200 neoclouds will experience guppy-level death and consolidation,” Musk wrote on X. “Some will make it, but not many.”
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