SpaceX has secured commitments for a $40 billion financing arrangement to purchase advanced artificial intelligence chips, but the transaction is drawing attention to borrowing costs and growing investor concerns about the capital required to expand AI infrastructure.
The company, which trades under the ticker SPCX, announced Oct. 26 that it had reached a binding commitment with an entity managed by Apollo Global Management to finance graphics processing units and related data center equipment.
The agreement represents one of the largest reported financing commitments for AI computing infrastructure and marks a major expansion of SpaceX’s technology operations following its acquisition of artificial intelligence developer xAI.
SpaceX raised $25 billion through a June bond offering, with reported interest rates ranging from 5.35% to 6.65% and a weighted-average rate near 5.86%. The new $40 billion GPU financing uses a different structure rather than conventional corporate bonds.
Under the agreement, financing partners will acquire advanced Nvidia chips and supporting hardware, which SpaceX will lease for use in its AI infrastructure. Quarterly lease payments are expected over roughly five years, including equipment costs, interest and related expenses.
The fixed interest rate on the new financing has not been finalized publicly, making a direct comparison with earlier bond borrowing costs premature.
SpaceX operates Falcon rockets, the Starship program and the Starlink satellite internet service, and now includes xAI’s Grok artificial intelligence products. Its expanded business structure provides several revenue sources, but AI infrastructure creates substantial capital requirements.
SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.58 billion, up 161% from a year earlier, and AI-related revenue of about $7.56 billion, according to figures cited in the earlier article.
The financing is expected to support purchases of Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips for terrestrial data centers. Fitch said the agreement would not change SpaceX’s BBB+ credit rating because the investment was already reflected in its projections, while noting it would monitor leverage.
For investors, the financing shows continuing access to institutional capital even as large lease obligations and the fast pace of technology change create financial risks. Returns will depend on equipment utilization, operating margins, AI service demand and final financing terms.