SpaceX is making more money selling AI compute than launching rockets

SpaceX brought in $2.6 billion from AI last quarter — nearly triple what it made from space launches.

In its quarterly earnings following its June IPO, SpaceX revealed that its AI revenue grew more than three times year-over-year. The surge came after SpaceX started renting out its extra data center capacity, signing major compute deals with Anthropic in May and Google in June. The move places the rocket company in direct competition with neoclouds like CoreWeave.

Why it matters: SpaceX is quietly turning into an AI infrastructure powerhouse. Hosting compute for tech rivals now generates nearly three times the revenue of its rocket launch division ($962 million), trailing only its Starlink internet business ($4.2 billion).

Know this: Building out compute isn't cheap. SpaceX hit $18.37 billion in capital expenditures this quarter, and its AI unit lost $1.5 billion. Still, SpaceX told investors in its IPO filings that it expects most of its long-term value to come from AI, backed by plans to eventually build data centers in space.

Turns out the fastest way to fund a trip to Mars is renting server racks to Google.