The Zhitong Finance App learned that after reports that SpaceX (SPCX.US) is in talks with banks and investors to raise 40 billion US dollars to purchase Nvidia (NVDA.US) chips, investors' concerns about the company's large-scale borrowing have heated up. On Wednesday, SpaceX's credit risk index rose to its highest level since trading, and its bonds also weakened markedly in the secondary market.
According to ICE Data Services data, the price of SpaceX's five-year credit default swap (CDS) once rose by 14.5 basis points on Wednesday to about 195.4 basis points per year, a record high since the relevant CDS began active trading in June this year. CDS prices usually rise as investors' concerns about corporate debt repayment risks rise, so this change reflects the increasing cost of the market requiring default protection for SpaceX debt.
This pressure has also spread to the secondary market for US investment-grade bonds. As of the beginning of the US stock market on Wednesday, SpaceX's coupon interest rate of 6.65%, and the credit spread for bonds due in 2056 increased by 12 basis points to 238 basis points, which is significantly higher than 175 basis points when the bond was issued in June this year. At the time, these bonds were part of SpaceX's $25 billion debt financing.
This market fluctuation stemmed from news that SpaceX is seeking a new round of huge financing. According to reports, the company is considering raising about 40 billion US dollars to purchase Nvidia chips to support AI infrastructure construction. If finally completed, it will be one of the largest debt financing transactions in the current AI infrastructure investment boom.
According to media reports, citing people familiar with the matter, SpaceX plans to complete the financing through about 10 billion US dollars of bank loans and 30 billion US dollars of investment-grade bonds. Apollo Global Management is leading the relevant financing arrangements, and the deal is not expected to be completed until 2027 at the earliest. However, financing negotiations are still in the early stages and may not be reached in the end. SpaceX has yet to respond to related reports.
SpaceX's potential financing plan comes at a time when tech companies and AI model developers are heavily borrowing money to build AI infrastructure. Related companies are investing and financing hundreds of billions of dollars to build and rent large-scale data centers equipped with a large number of high-performance chips. The rapid expansion of global computing power infrastructure is also driving the cost of land, AI chips, electricity, and power generation equipment to continue to rise, and spawning a series of large-scale financing transactions.
Sal Naro, chief investment officer at Coherence Credit Strategies, said that the market is currently facing an “unprecedented supply of debt,” and there is no clear end in sight for the time being. He believes that the scale of AI infrastructure construction currently underway around the world is unprecedented. What is special about this is that a large number of construction projects are being carried out almost simultaneously around the world.
SpaceX isn't the only company seeking huge AI-related financing recently. According to reports, Broadcom's (AVGO.US) Wall Street underwriting team has also begun planning a new round of AI chip financing of about 60 billion US dollars to support the related needs of Anthropic and other companies.
As the scale of investment in AI infrastructure continues to expand, market concerns about the financing needs and debt burdens of technology companies are also heating up. For SpaceX, the potential financing of 40 billion US dollars will further expand the size of its debt, and the record high CDS price and widening bond spreads indicate that investors are already beginning to demand higher risk compensation.