SpaceX Reports First Profit as Public Company, Revenue Jumps 161%

SpaceX SPCX -0.11%decrease; down pointing triangle reported $14.6 billion in revenue for the third quarter, jumping 161% from the same time last year, the company said Tuesday.

The growth at SpaceX, the world’s largest rocket company and satellite-internet provider, was supercharged by its AI segment, though it also saw growth in space and connectivity.

The company reported net income of $4.4 billion. Capital expenditures hit $19.6 billion for the quarter, up from $6.9 billion a year earlier.

SpaceX shares rose more than 2% in after-hours trading, as revenue came in ahead of expectations from analysts polled by FactSet.

SpaceX executives spoke to investors on its first-ever video earnings call, livestreamed on X.

Revenue in SpaceX’s AI business surged nearly 830% to $7.6 billion. The segment grew from its February acquisition of Chief Executive Elon Musk’s startup xAI and includes revenue from its chatbot, Grok, and renting out data centers to other AI companies. Musk recently renamed that business “SpaceX Super Intelligence.”

In August, SpaceX closed on its $60 billion acquisition of Cursor, a popular AI coding software which it merged into the AI unit.

Capital spending for the AI unit hit $16.4 billion in the third quarter, making up the vast majority of the company’s investment for the period. SpaceX spent just $1.6 billion on its space business and $1.5 billion on its satellite business in the same period.

SpaceX reported $1.8 billion in revenue for its space business, up 6% from last year.

Its connectivity business, which includes its Starlink internet service, reported $5.2 billion in revenue, up nearly 70% from the year before.

SpaceX’s initial public offering in June was priced at $135 a share, and the stock zoomed to above $225 in the days following the company’s market debut. In the weeks after, shares fell below the IPO price, before settling around $148, giving SpaceX a valuation of about $2 trillion in recent days.

The company has faced criticism from European officials and U.S. lawmakers about disruptions reported by the Ukrainian military while using SpaceX’s satellite-communications networks. The military relies on Starlink commercial services on the battlefield, as well as Starshield, a network the company developed for national-security applications and is now controlled by the U.S. government. Both have been critical for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Since last week, both Musk and U.S. officials have deflected responsibility for limits being placed on military-grade Starlink terminals without warning, a move that Ukraine officials said has hampered offensive operations and their ability to defend the country from Russia’s attacks.

In a post on X, Musk said it was the U.S. government, not SpaceX, that has control over Starshield.

SpaceX has been working to convince investors that its technology will be critical both on Earth and in space. In securities filings earlier this year, SpaceX estimated that the total addressable market for the business was $28.5 trillion, with the market opportunity for AI to be around $26.5 trillion. The size of the entire U.S. economy has been estimated at over $30 trillion.

Last week, Musk upped the ante. In a post on X, he said SpaceX could be worth “orders of magnitude more than the current Earth economy.”

In late September, the company launched its huge Starship rocket in another test flight which demonstrated its ability to reach orbit. The vehicle carried 26 satellites that SpaceX added to its current constellation, which delivers internet service to customers around the world.

Success of the 400-foot-tall Starship is vital to justify the company’s long-term plans and massive valuation. The company needs to get Starship regularly flying to handle lunar missions for NASA, fortify its Starlink network and to deploy AI data centers in space, which Musk said could come as soon as 2027.

Separately, the company partnered with Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla in a demonstration of its new Roadster, which used SpaceX rocket thrusters in a theatrical performance where the white sports car accelerated up a ramp, then used the space technology to perform flips and control its landing.