Elon Musk said SpaceX has closed $40 billion in debt financing to purchase Nvidia GPUs, with the chips expected to arrive in the first and second quarters of 2027. He described the debt as mostly callable and tied to the GPU deliveries. The announcement came after Reuters earlier reported that SpaceX was in talks with banks and asset managers, with Goldman Sachs reportedly leading discussions and Apollo Global Management among the firms involved. Bloomberg noted late Sunday that the package had not yet been priced, but parties were working to finalize it in the coming days.
Musk stressed that SpaceX could access debt markets because it is investment grade and has substantial revenue from Starlink and rocket launches that does not depend on AI data centers. By contrast, he said debt markets have nearly shut off funding for companies without major revenue outside AI data centers. He warned that more than 200 neocloud providers will face severe consolidation, saying some will make it through but not many.
Research firm Gartner issued a similar warning in October, forecasting that more than 80% of neocloud providers will cease operating independently by 2030. Gartner expects AI providers to spend nearly $1 trillion on infrastructure in 2026 and another $6 trillion between 2027 and 2030, but says revenue is too low to make all of that spending profitable. Spending on AI-optimized infrastructure-as-a-service is forecast to rise from $66 billion in 2027 to $174 billion in 2030, though many providers may struggle to recover costs before current AI chips are replaced.
SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business earned $7.56 billion in third-quarter revenue, up 830% from a year earlier, and made up more than half of total quarterly sales of $14.58 billion. Capital spending nearly tripled to $19.6 billion, and the company expects $35 billion to $40 billion in the fourth quarter. Starlink ended September with 13.6 million consumer subscribers, while enterprise and government revenue rose 91%. SPCX stock traded about 1% higher after hours near $147. Wall Street consensus remains Strong Buy with an average price target of $250.
The warnings could affect Bitcoin miners that have expanded into AI computing. IREN rents computing power to customers, while Core Scientific hosts data centers for neocloud clients such as CoreWeave. Tighter debt conditions for AI data center operators may add pressure to mining companies pursuing AI revenue, though the broader cryptocurrency market impact remains indirect.
