SpaceX Secures About $40 Billion 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, according to a regulatory filing disclosed Monday. An entity managed by Apollo Global Management will buy the chips and related server hardware and lease the equipment to SpaceX, with leases lasting about five to five-and-a-quarter years. SpaceX called the deal the "largest committed GPU financing" and expects it to close by year-end, subject to closing conditions.

Deal terms and timing

The leases will begin when each tranche of equipment is delivered. SpaceX expects leases to start 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.

SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said the lease diversifies the company's funding sources and addresses a notable portion of the funding required to deliver on its growth plans. He also said SpaceX is seeing "less than one-year payback periods" on its AI infrastructure investments as it scales compute to power Grok and its cloud services.

AI business growth

The financing comes as SpaceX ramps spending to expand AI infrastructure alongside its Starlink and launch businesses. 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. It brought in $7.6 billion of SpaceX's $14.6 billion in revenue, more than Starlink and rocket launches combined.

Capital expenditures surged to nearly $20 billion, up from $6.9 billion a year earlier. On the company's October 20 earnings call, CFO Bret Johnsen said SpaceX expects to spend $35 billion to $40 billion in the fourth quarter alone.

Musk's view of AI debt markets

The lease follows a difficult stretch in debt markets for AI infrastructure players, as investors grow concerned about runaway capital expenditures and limited profits. While SpaceX had no trouble tapping Wall Street, Elon Musk used the $40 billion announcement to argue that debt markets have largely closed to companies without major revenue streams outside of AI data centers.

Pointing to SpaceX's "investment-grade" status and steady cash flow from Starlink and rocket launches, Musk said that spells trouble for 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."

Apollo and chip supply

Apollo said the financing will help deliver Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX's "terrestrial compute buildout." The deal was disclosed Monday by SpaceX in a regulatory filing.

Sources: TechCrunch