SpaceX reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $14.58 billion, roughly $9 billion more than in the same quarter of 2025. That figure cleared the $13 billion expected by S&P Capital IQ, and LSEG figures put the analyst consensus at $12.72 billion. The company moved from a net loss of $1.05 billion a year earlier to a net profit of $4.4 billion for the quarter ended in September, more than double the $2.12 billion analysts had expected. The company said revenue grew 161% year over year, driven by its artificial intelligence business and its Starlink satellite internet service. With a market capitalization of about $2 trillion, the group spans rockets, satellite connectivity and AI under Elon Musk.
The AI segment, which covers the Grok chatbot, the X platform and data center capacity, produced $7.56 billion in revenue. Sources differ on the year-earlier comparison: one set of figures has it nearly tripling, while another puts the increase at 830%. Connectivity, which includes Starlink, brought in $5.25 billion, and the company reported 13.6 million Starlink consumer subscribers. Space revenue reached $1.77 billion, up six percent, although that division posted a $7 million operating loss. Connectivity generated $2.4 billion from operations and the AI unit $431 million on the same measure.
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Most AI revenue came from renting computing capacity to companies including Anthropic, Google and Reflection AI, rather than from selling proprietary models. That segment also absorbs most of the group's investment and continues to post large operating losses. The company has warned that sustained spending will be needed before the business produces steady profits.
Capital expenditure reached $19.59 billion in the quarter, compared with $6.88 billion a year before.
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Melissa Otto, who heads Visible Alpha Research within S&P Global, expects spending to climb from $69.9 billion in 2026 to $194.3 billion by 2028.
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A Gartner estimate put the share of AI infrastructure outlays that could face write-downs by the end of 2030 at more than $3.5 trillion. The stock sat roughly 9% below its IPO level as of Monday's close, then gained 2% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, 20 October. Otto wrote before the results came out:
“The weakness has been partially driven by concerns about overgrowth around AI and data centers.”
SpaceX has been public since its June IPO, and Musk has steadily made the rocket company the center of his business empire. Musk has also weighed in on the war in Ukraine, the setting in which SpaceX restricted its satellite internet service in that country. He has poured hundreds of millions of dollars, partly drawn from his SpaceX fortune, into funding groups aligned with Republicans ahead of the midterms. On Monday, 19 October, he promised one SpaceX share to every American child next year through a federally run savings-account program that Donald Trump backs.
An investor call led by Musk was set for 4:30pm on the day of the report. This is the second earnings report since the June listing. The third quarter included the closing of a $60 billion deal to buy the AI coding tool Cursor, the 13th launch of Starship, and the rollout of a new V5 Starlink residential dish. On the second-quarter call, president Gwynne Shotwell described plans to build a terrestrial mobile network to compete with T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. Tesla, which Musk also runs as chief executive, reports on Wednesday, 21 October.
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SpaceX reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $14.58 billion, up 161% year over year, and a $4.4 billion profit after a year-earlier net loss of $1.05 billion.
AI text based on reports by Axios, The New York Times, The Verge and other publishers. Published .