SpaceX Doubles Revenue, but AI and Mars Devour Billions
In its first report since going public, Elon Musk's company posted a 92% revenue surge, yet massive capital expenditures on artificial intelligence continue to result in a net loss.
In its first report since going public, Elon Musk's company posted a 92% revenue surge, yet massive capital expenditures on artificial intelligence continue to result in a net loss.
SpaceX, the space launch and satellite internet company, released its first quarterly financial report on August 5, 2026, since its stock market debut in June. The results for the second quarter, ending June 30, showed spectacular revenue growth but also continued losses as the company aggressively invests in CEO Elon Musk's vision for artificial intelligence and Mars colonization.
SpaceX's revenue from April to June reached $7.8 billion, a 92% jump from $4.1 billion in the same period in 2025. This figure significantly exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet, who had forecast revenue of $6.8 billion. Despite the impressive growth, the company remains unprofitable, posting a net loss of $541 million. However, this is a significant improvement from the $4.3 billion loss in the first quarter of 2026 and better than the expected loss of $1.9 billion. The operating loss also narrowed, from $970 million in the second quarter of 2025 to $143 million in the same period this year.
The company's main financial engine remains its Starlink satellite internet service, whose revenue grew 66% and accounts for more than half of total revenue. Starlink's operating income jumped 79%, and the number of subscribers reached 12 million by the end of the quarter. However, average revenue per subscriber fell 22% due to expansion into international markets and the introduction of cheaper plans.
The biggest surprise for analysts was the AI business, which management highlights as a future growth driver. Revenue in this segment, which includes Musk's AI startup xAI, the Grok model, and the social network X, grew about 250% year-over-year. According to Channel News Asia, AI revenue is already being monetized through contracts with companies like Anthropic, Google (Alphabet), and Reflection AI. "It's a huge positive surprise already today, the fact that AI is already being monetized. They're not relying on Starlink to fund operations there. I think that's a huge part of the story," said Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management.
The race to develop artificial intelligence requires massive investments. SpaceX's capital expenditures in the second quarter reached $18.4 billion, a dramatic jump from $2.83 billion a year earlier and well above the $13 billion analysts had predicted. Nearly $16 billion of that is attributed to xAI and AI infrastructure, for which the company allocated $15.83 billion compared to $749 million in the same quarter of 2025.
Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen indicated that he expects a similar level of capital spending in the coming quarters. Analysts estimate that total capital expenditures will exceed $45 billion by the end of the year. Elon Musk said on a conference call with investors: "We are building AI compute capacity at a large scale faster than anyone else, we believe, and significantly improving our AI models." The company expects to build more than two gigawatts of compute power this year and nearly 10 gigawatts by the end of next year, using exclusively hardware from chipmaker Nvidia.
SpaceX announced ambitious plans, including reaching $100 billion in annual revenue by December and launching at least 1,000 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites within a year. Company President Gwynne Shotwell said she expects Starlink to take "quite a few" customers from telecom giants like T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, with the goal of building a "true mobile service."
SpaceX shares, characterized by high volatility, fell after the results were released. DalmacijaDanas reports a decline of nearly 2%, while Channel News Asia cites a 7.5% drop in after-hours trading, following a 9.4% rise during the day. Since the record IPO in June, the stock has lost 8% of its value. Additional pressure could come on August 6, when the post-IPO lock-up period expires, potentially releasing a wave of insider and early investor shares onto the market. Morgan Stanley researchers noted in their analysis: "Unless there are major surprises, we believe management commentary over the next few quarters will be far more important for the stock price than the quarterly numbers themselves."
