SpaceX Secures $40 Billion GPU Financing From Apollo
SpaceX has a binding commitment for about $40 billion in financing for AI chips and data center equipment through an Apollo-managed entity that will buy the hardware and lease it to the company.
Under the agreement, an entity managed by Apollo Global Management, the New York-based private equity firm, will buy the chips and related server hardware and lease the equipment to SpaceX, according to the filing. Lease terms will run about five to five-and-a-quarter years, beginning when each tranche of equipment is delivered. SpaceX expects the deal to close by year-end, subject to closing conditions, with leases beginning in the first half of 2027 as GPUs and related equipment arrive.
The financing gives SpaceX another way to fund its AI expansion without relying solely on traditional debt markets. CFO Bret Johnsen said the lease diversifies funding sources and addresses a notable portion of funding required to deliver on growth plans. Johnsen said SpaceX is seeing "less than one-year payback periods" on AI infrastructure investments as it scales compute for Grok and cloud services. Apollo said the financing will help deliver Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX's "terrestrial compute buildout."
The deal comes as SpaceX ramps spending on AI infrastructure alongside Starlink and launch businesses. In the third quarter, SpaceX's AI segment, which includes the Grok chatbot, the Cursor coding tool and cloud compute business, brought in $7.6 billion of the company's $14.6 billion in revenue, more than Starlink and rocket launches combined. Capital expenditures rose to nearly $20 billion from $6.9 billion a year earlier. Johnsen said on SpaceX's Oct. 20 earnings call that the company expects to spend $35 billion to $40 billion in the fourth quarter alone.
The lease also arrives after a turbulent stretch in debt markets for AI infrastructure players, as investors have grown uneasy about runaway capital expenditures and limited profits. SpaceX had no trouble tapping Wall Street. Musk used the $40 billion announcement to criticize 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 AI data centers, which he said 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."