SpaceX beats forecasts as revenue and spending rise

SpaceX has unveiled its first quarterly earnings report, revealing a significant revenue increase of approximately 90% and reduced operating losses in the second quarter of 2026. Under the leadership of Elon Musk, the company reported earnings of $7.8 billion, a sharp contrast to $4.1 billion in the previous year, surpassing expectations of nearly $7 billion.

SpaceX has been investing heavily, with capital expenditure surging to $18 billion from $2.83 billion a year earlier. Over 86% of these expenditures were directed towards its AI division. More than half of the company's total revenue originated from the Starlink internet satellite business. The number of Starlink subscribers reached 12 million, a doubling from the previous year, as per the report.

SpaceX highlighted its collaborations with major airlines, including Aer Lingus, United Airlines, American Airlines, and others. The company attributes its success to AI computing deals and the growth of the Starlink satellite service. Earnings from SpaceX's AI business, which Musk has touted as the company's future growth engine, skyrocketed by about 250%.

The AI division, encompassing the social network X, its Grok chatbot, and data centers, is anticipated to become the company's primary revenue source by the September quarter. Musk stated during a post-earnings call that SpaceX is constructing AI computing capacity at an unprecedented scale and significantly enhancing its AI models.

The company has secured agreements to lease unused computing power to companies like Anthropic and Google, which are expected to generate an additional $6.7 billion in computing leases starting October. Anthropic initiated monthly payments of $1.25 billion to utilize SpaceX's Colossus data center near Memphis, Tennessee, while Google is set to begin paying $920 million monthly for computing power.

Following the publication of the results, SpaceX shares experienced a decline of 7.5% in after-hours trading, after a 9.4% increase in regular trading. The stock may face further pressure due to the upcoming expiry of SpaceX's post-IPO lock-up period, which begins on Thursday, potentially allowing a portion of employees to sell their shares and double the limited number of shares currently in circulation, standing at around 5 percent.

SpaceX has faced challenges in maintaining investor confidence since its record IPO, which valued the company at around $1.75 trillion.