On Tuesday, Elon Musk moved from rockets to mobile service and orbiting data centers on SpaceX’s first public earnings call. Executives described faster returns from equipment on the ground.

SpaceX spent $18.37 billion on capital expenditure in the April-to-June quarter. The shares fell roughly 7% after hours.

The satellite-connectivity business was SpaceX’s only profitable unit in the quarter.

What Changed

AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.

The spending

Capital expenditure, or capex, is money spent building things meant to last, rather than running the business each day. Think of it as buying the factory instead of paying its power bill. When a quarter’s building budget exceeds its revenue, investors must weigh an earnings beat against the time required for new equipment to pay for itself.

The quarter’s capital spending was more than six times the $2.83 billion spent a year earlier and above the $13.22 billion FactSet analyst average. Of that amount, $15.83 billion went to AI, compared with $749 million in the year-earlier quarter. The three-month total nearly matched the $20.7 billion SpaceX invested during all of 2025.

Bret Johnsen, the chief financial officer, told investors, “All capex is not the same.” He said AI computing equipment produces a payback in less than one year. The payback figure is SpaceX’s own; no outside measurement accompanied the results. Morgan Stanley forecast in July that SpaceX would not generate positive free cash flow before 2035 and would require outside capital, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The operating business

Revenue reached $7.81 billion for the April-to-June quarter, above the $6.93 billion LSEG consensus and 92% higher than $4.1 billion a year earlier. The net loss narrowed to $541 million from $1 billion over the same period. SpaceX lost 9 cents a share, compared with the 26-cent loss expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG.

Connectivity remained the source of profit. The unit generated $4.29 billion in quarterly revenue, against the $3.83 billion StreetAccount estimate, and earned $1.66 billion in operating income, up 79% from a year earlier. AI revenue reached $2.56 billion, topping a $2.18 billion estimate, while its operating loss narrowed to $1.26 billion from the $2.39 billion analysts expected.

Gwynne Shotwell, the SpaceX president who cited Starlink mobile partnerships that quarter with SoftBank, NTT DoCoMo and Spark New Zealand, pointed to an approved EchoStar spectrum transfer and satellites planned for 2027. She expects to win customers from AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Starlink ended June 2026 with 12 million subscribers, double the year-earlier count but below the 12.19 million analysts modeled. Average revenue per user was $66, flat from the preceding quarter and down 22% from $85 a year earlier as lower-priced international plans expanded.

The promises

Musk projected a $100 billion annualized revenue rate in December 2026, compared with the $38.6 billion in full-year revenue analysts polled by Bloomberg forecast for 2026. “The $100 billion ARR in December is not a question mark. That’s what we would achieve if we basically did nothing.”

The projection assumes revenue from the $60 billion purchase of Cursor announced in June, a transaction expected to close during the third quarter of 2026 pending regulatory approvals. It also includes cloud contracts. SpaceX booked $6.7 billion of such business in the first weeks of the third quarter, with service due to ramp from October over six months.

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Musk expects SpaceX to operate more than 2 gigawatts of computing capacity by the end of 2026 and close to 10 gigawatts by the end of 2027, using Nvidia hardware exclusively. SpaceX and Nvidia also announced plans for an AI computing payload aboard satellites. CNBC reported that no company has proved that data centers in space can work. Scientists have objected to SpaceX’s aim of launching up to 1 million orbital data centers, citing orbital debris and other environmental risks.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson said, “I felt like we got sold the story again, which I appreciate. That’s what management teams get to do. But in my gut it’s overly optimistic.”

The lock-up

SpaceX raised about $86 billion at $135 a share in its June 12, 2026, initial offering. By the July 31 close of $108.37, the stock was nearly 20% below that offer price. A new supply test arrives Thursday, Aug. 6, when 911.5 million employee and early-investor shares become eligible for sale. That is 12% of the company and exceeds the 640 million shares then trading publicly, Axios reported.

Paul Kedrosky, a venture capitalist who spoke with the outlet, described insiders pledging stock to buy homes and “private islands, cars, whatever,” giving some a reason to sell. By June 2027, nearly half of SpaceX shares are scheduled to trade publicly.

Jay Ritter, the University of Florida economist known as Mr. IPO, noted that unlocked stock does not all reach the market. Still, he added, “It’s quite possible there will be a little bit of a further dip in the share prices.”

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did SpaceX spend on capital projects in the second quarter of 2026?

SpaceX spent $18.37 billion, more than six times the $2.83 billion it spent a year earlier and above the $13.22 billion FactSet analyst average. Of that, $15.83 billion went to AI, compared with $749 million in the year-earlier quarter. The three-month total nearly matched the $20.7 billion SpaceX invested during all of 2025.

Why did SpaceX stock fall if revenue beat estimates?

Revenue of $7.81 billion topped the $6.93 billion LSEG consensus and the loss of 9 cents a share was smaller than the 26-cent loss expected, but capital spending came in far above analyst forecasts. Shares fell roughly 7% in after-hours trading.

Which SpaceX business is actually profitable?

Connectivity, the segment built around Starlink, was the only profitable unit. It generated $4.29 billion in quarterly revenue against a $3.83 billion StreetAccount estimate and earned $1.66 billion in operating income, up 79% from a year earlier. The AI unit lost $1.26 billion and the space unit lost $542 million.

What is the SpaceX lock-up expiration on Aug. 6?

On Thursday, Aug. 6, 911.5 million shares held by employees and early investors become eligible for sale. That is 12% of the company and exceeds the 640 million shares then trading publicly. By June 2027, nearly half of SpaceX shares are scheduled to trade publicly.

What did Musk claim about SpaceX revenue and compute capacity?

Musk projected a $100 billion annualized revenue rate in December 2026, against the $38.6 billion in full-year 2026 revenue analysts polled by Bloomberg forecast. He also expects more than 2 gigawatts of computing capacity by the end of 2026 and close to 10 gigawatts by the end of 2027, built exclusively on Nvidia hardware.

AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.

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