SpaceX Revenue Jumps 161% to US$14.6 Billion as AI Unit Overtakes Starlink

SpaceX’s third-quarter revenue jumped 161% from a year earlier to US$14.6 billion, with its artificial intelligence business overtaking the Starlink satellite internet service as the company’s biggest earner, Fortune reported after the Elon Musk-led company released results late on Tuesday in the US.

The figure comfortably beat the US$12.86 billion analysts had pencilled in, according to Visible Alpha consensus data cited by Fortune. The rocket and satellite group also posted operating income of US$2.79 billion, ahead of the roughly US$2.33 billion expected and a sharp turnaround from an operating loss of US$143 million in the second quarter. Fortune described it as SpaceX’s first operating profit since it became a public company.

AI unit outpaces Starlink

The standout was the segment SpaceX has renamed “Super Intelligence”, which generated about US$7.56 billion in the quarter, nearly triple the US$2.56 billion it brought in during the previous three months and well above the US$6.47 billion forecast. TechCrunch said the unit now accounts for roughly 52% of revenue and includes the Grok chatbot, the recently acquired Cursor coding tool and a cloud computing business with 1.7 gigawatts of capacity.

According to Fortune, the AI arm earns revenue by leasing computing power to customers including Anthropic, Google, Grok and X. Yahoo Finance noted the segment alone brought in more than Starlink and the launch business combined.

The connectivity segment, made up mostly of Starlink, still grew strongly, with revenue up 69% to US$5.25 billion and operating income nearly doubling to US$2.37 billion. However, Starlink added 1.6 million consumer subscribers, short of the 2.29 million analysts had expected. The space division, which covers launches, lifted revenue 6% to US$1.77 billion.

Spending remains heavy. Capital expenditure reached US$19.6 billion in the quarter, which TechCrunch said is supporting the Colossus II data centre and the Starship programme. SpaceX did not provide a full-year forecast in its release.

Shares jump, Tesla merger talk

Investors cheered the numbers. SpaceX shares climbed about 10% to around US$162.78 by midday on Wednesday in New York, Yahoo Finance reported, helping lift the Nasdaq Composite by roughly 1% as the results revived enthusiasm for AI-linked stocks.

On the earnings call, Musk said combining SpaceX with Tesla “would be a good idea”, according to Yahoo Finance, which reported that both companies have set up special committees to study a possible deal. No transaction has been announced.

Separately, Fortune reported that SpaceX has agreed to buy 800 MHz spectrum licences from Grain Management, a deal subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission.

What’s next

The rally faces an early test: up to 1.3 billion SpaceX shares become eligible for sale on Thursday, the largest lock-up release since the company listed, according to Yahoo Finance. Analysts are also waiting for a full-year outlook, given forecasts compiled by Visible Alpha that see capital spending climbing steeply through 2028 as the company builds out AI computing capacity.

Attention now turns to Tesla and Meta, which are due to report after the US market close on Wednesday, kicking off the Big Tech earnings season.

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