Space
SpaceX's AI compute business triples in revenue as losses narrow amid infrastructure push
The company's AI division recorded $2.6 billion in revenue by supplying computing power to rivals like Anthropic and Google, though it still burns through $1.5 billion quarterly.
The Verge
SpaceX's artificial intelligence business has become a significant revenue driver, with earnings roughly tripling year-over-year to reach $2.6 billion, largely fueled by lucrative contracts to rent computing capacity to other AI firms. Yet the division continues to bleed money at an alarming rate, posting a $1.5 billion quarterly loss—a modest improvement from the prior year.
A new competitive front in cloud computing#
The company has secured major supply agreements with Anthropic (inked in May) and Google (June), positioning itself as a serious rival to established neocloud operators like CoreWeave. These deals underscore SpaceX's pivot toward becoming a critical infrastructure vendor for the AI industry, not merely a satellite and launch company.
According to remarks from Elon Musk during an investor presentation, "We're building AI compute capacity at scale faster than anyone else, we believe, and we're significantly improving our AI models." This confidence reflects SpaceX's aggressive expansion of data center operations, though the strategy demands heavy capital outlays—quarterly capital expenditures hit $18.37 billion.
Narrowing but persistent red ink#
The company's overall net loss shrank to $143 million, a silver lining against years of mounting deficits. The tighter bottom line partly reflects higher revenue streams, yet Musk's ambitions—including speculative plans for orbital data centers and an addressable market pegged above US GDP—continue to impose substantial costs.
Space division spending accelerates#
Development expenses in SpaceX's core space division climbed $389 million year-over-year, with Starship accounting for the bulk of that increase. The fully reusable super-heavy-lift vehicle is central to Musk's longer-term vision, particularly for expanding the company's connectivity business—currently its sole profitable operation.
Starship must reliably launch heavier satellite payloads to support SpaceX's Starlink internet constellation. The company has already manufactured and deployed 20 of the new generation satellites, though the timeline for full operational deployment of 60-satellite cohorts remains uncertain.
