SpaceX Reportedly Seeks $40 Billion Debt Package for Nvidia Rubin AI Hardware

SpaceX is reportedly seeking a $40 billion debt package to purchase Nvidia AI processors for its xAI venture, according to the Financial Times. The financing would combine $10 billion in bank loans with $30 billion in investment-grade debt and could be completed in 2027, though discussions remain at an early stage and there is no guarantee that a transaction will materialize.

Financing Structure

Apollo Global Management is expected to take the leading role in arranging the financing, while bond manager Pimco is among a limited number of lenders discussing participation. The transaction is currently expected to close sometime in 2027. Apollo already has considerable exposure to this market and has previously participated in financing the buildout of Elon Musk's AI infrastructure.

In August, Nvidia teamed up with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to establish financing platforms designed to attract more than $500 billion in third-party funding for AI infrastructure. Bloomberg reports that Apollo had previously arranged a $7 billion financing deal with xAI that covered Nvidia hardware intended for the company's Colossus 2 data center near Memphis.

Hardware Scope

If the deal proceeds, xAI would receive $40 billion worth of Nvidia Rubin generation hardware, including AI accelerators. Since xAI has traditionally bought servers or rack-scale AI solutions from Nvidia and its partners, it is likely to continue doing so rather than purchasing accelerators and building AI servers itself. Assuming xAI obtains Vera Rubin NVL72 systems at around $8 million per unit, the $40 billion would cover approximately 5,000 machines containing roughly 360,000 Nvidia Rubin AI accelerators. It remains unclear whether $40 billion represents xAI's entire new compute capacity budget for 2027 or if the company plans to spend more.

Existing Compute Footprint

The scale of xAI's Nvidia deployments is already substantial. Elon Musk said last month that xAI's Colossus 2 cluster currently houses 110,000 Nvidia GB200 accelerators and 440,000 GB300 devices. No parties mentioned in the reports commented on the potential deal.

Sources: Tomshardware · Techmeme