SpaceX dives 10% after AI spending surge rattles investors

SpaceX shares experienced a significant drop of over 10% on Wednesday as concerns surrounding increased AI spending unsettled investors. The premarket trading saw the stock value plummet, despite the company delivering a strong earnings report in its first as a public entity on Tuesday. SpaceX reported a substantial increase in capital expenditures, reaching an estimated $18.4 billion in the second quarter, which surpassed analysts' expectations.

The bulk of this spending was directed towards AI development. Despite the stock closing above $125 in Tuesday's trading, it significantly trailed its initial $135 IPO price and remained far from its all-time high of over $200 shortly after the listing.

Investors have been wary this earnings season due to apprehensions about large tech firms proving the profitability of their multi-billion dollar investments. While SpaceX's AI models are perceived as behind OpenAI and Anthropic, the company is aiming to carve out a niche as an alternative cloud provider, leasing the computing power generated by its Nvidia chips.

SpaceX's CFO, Bret Johnsen, sought to reassure investors about the efficiency of their spending during an earnings call. He stated that the company is deploying capital "efficiently" in a manner that achieves a payback period of less than a year for AI compute investments. The share price, however, continued its decline as SpaceX reported narrowing losses and promising substantial future revenue.

Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, reiterated the company's ambition to achieve a $1 trillion annual revenue by 2030, a target that exceeded the previously projected 2031 timeline. Despite these optimistic projections, skepticism remains, as investors question the speed of growth and the extent of costs before the company attains profitability.

Steve Westly, a former Tesla board member and founder of The Westly Group, expressed these concerns on CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Wednesday. The company faces further market uncertainty on Thursday, as the expiration of insider lock-ups will allow some insiders to begin selling portions of their shares, potentially impacting the stock price.