SpaceX raises US$40 billion in debt for AI chips, Musk says

Elon Musk said on October 25 that SpaceX had obtained US$40 billion through debt financing to purchase graphics processing units used in artificial intelligence systems. He announced the borrowing in posts on X without identifying the lenders or specifying an interest rate.

SpaceX has not made the financing terms public. Musk said most of the borrowing could be repaid early and attributed the company’s access to funding to its investment-grade credit rating and income from its Starlink and launch operations.

The Financial Times previously reported that Apollo Global Management was expected to head a financing arrangement of around US$40 billion. That proposal included approximately US$10 billion in loans from banks and US$30 billion of investment-grade debt. Musk did not establish whether the financing he announced was the same package.

Musk also predicted failures and mergers among companies renting out AI computing capacity, saying debt funding had become difficult to obtain without substantial revenue outside AI data centers. He said SpaceX would not buy any of those businesses.

SpaceX, which absorbed xAI and became publicly traded in June, reported revenue of US$14.58 billion for the quarter ending September 30, up 161%. Its AI operations brought in US$7.56 billion, an almost tenfold increase, according to the company’s latest results.