The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to media reports quoting people familiar with the matter, SpaceX (SPCX.US) is preparing to complete a debt issuance of 40 billion US dollars. The interest rate will be significantly higher than previous borrowing costs, reflecting the growing concerns of investors about artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure financing. According to people familiar with the matter, the riskiest portion of this offering is expected to yield about 8.3%, while the interest rate for a batch of relatively low-risk debts secured by some of the company's computing chips may be around 7.75%.
This debt offering, arranged by Apollo (APO.US) and Goldman Sachs (GS.US)), is likely to be completed as early as next week. The cost of borrowing is expected to be more than a percentage point higher than the yield on SpaceX's existing outstanding bonds, but the final pricing may still change.
For investors, higher financing costs highlight the risks associated with SpaceX's ambitious AI expansion plans. As companies invest billions of dollars in infrastructure, rising interest expenses could put pressure on their profitability and cash flow. The widening yield gap between existing debt and newly issued debt also shows that lenders are demanding higher returns to cover the financial risks SpaceX faces.
For the first time, SpaceX's third-quarter results announced after the market on Tuesday validated its “burn-money-monetization — closed loop. According to the data, SpaceX's third-quarter revenue reached 14.575 billion US dollars, far exceeding analysts' general expectations of 12.72 billion US dollars, an increase of 161% from 5.576 billion US dollars in the same period last year, and an increase of about 87% from 7.814 billion US dollars in the second quarter.
Operating profit for the third quarter reached US$2,791 million, compared with an operating loss of US$273 million and an operating loss of US$143 million in the second quarter; net profit for the third quarter reached US$4.404 billion, far exceeding analysts' general expectations of US$1.57 billion to US$1.88 billion, a significant improvement over the net loss of US$1,054 million for the same period last year, turning a loss into a profit. According to US GAAP, SpaceX's diluted earnings per share for the third quarter were $0.35, which also far exceeded analysts' general expectations of $0.15. The loss was $0.36 per share for the same period last year.
The explosion in the superintelligence (SI) sector was an important reason why SpaceX's third-quarter results exceeded expectations. The business's revenue was US$7.56 billion, up 195% month-on-month and 830% year-on-year, exceeding market expectations by about 20% and accounting for about 52% of the company's total revenue. A company famous for building rockets now derives more than half of its revenue from AI computing power and model services.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is speeding up the deployment of its AI computing power. Elon Musk said during the earnings call that it is expected that 10 gigawatts of additional AI computing power will be deployed in 2027. The company also increased its capital expenditure — capital expenditure for the fourth quarter of 2026 is expected to reach $35 billion to $40 billion, about double the capital expenditure of nearly $20 billion in the third quarter.
Despite better-than-expected quarterly results, SpaceX's current bonds have recently declined as investors weigh its aggressive capital expenditure plans and rising debt burdens. The company is also exploring the possibility of a potential merger with Tesla (TSLA.US).
At the same time, the cost of providing default insurance for SpaceX debts has also risen, further indicating that credit investors' sentiment is deteriorating. SpaceX's financing comes at a time when the overall AI loan market is weakening — AI cloud computing provider Coreweave (CRWV.US) bonds fell sharply last week due to growing market concerns about its reliance on debt financing to expand; Meta Platforms' (META.US) credit risk rose to an all-time high on Thursday, as plans to increase capital spending further heightened market concerns about AI-related loans.