Elon Musk has confirmed that SpaceX closed $40 billion in debt financing for graphics processing units (GPUs), with the chips expected to arrive in the first half of 2027. He disclosed the deal on X, October 25 (embedded below) while responding to investor Chamath Palihapitiya, who had warned that mounting financing pressures and delays in data center construction could leave AI computing capacity sitting idle next year.
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Musk agreed with that assessment, but argued that SpaceX is better positioned than many of its competitors because it can borrow against revenue from businesses outside AI. “Pretty much,” Musk replied to Palihapitiya on X explaining that debt markets had largely shut off funding for companies without substantial revenue independent of AI data centers.
He further said SpaceX had closed $40 billion in debt for GPUs because it has investment-grade status and revenue from its Starlink satellite internet and space businesses. “That means the 200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death and consolidation. Some will make it through, but not many,” Musk wrote.
Pretty much. As of the past few weeks, debt markets have almost entirely shut off access to money for any company that doesn’t have substantial revenue independent of AI data centers. SpaceX closed $40B of debt for GPUs, but we’re investment grade and have Starlink & launch revenue.That means the 200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death and consolidation. Some will make it through, but not many.October 25, 2026
It is still, however, unclear what Musk meant by “closed” or whether investors had agreed to the final debt pricing. The disclosure comes as SpaceX prepares for another enormous spending period. CFO Bret Johnsen had stated during SpaceX’s Q3 2026 earnings call that the company expects capital expenditure of $35 billion to $40 billion in Q4 “because of the additional capacity coming online this quarter.”
Musk also clarified that the borrowing was primarily callable debt for GPU purchases expected to arrive in the first and second quarters of 2027. “This is primarily callable debt for GPU purchases that will arrive in Q1 and Q2. Not a major factor this quarter,” Musk wrote.
Earlier this month, it emerged SpaceX had proposed a $40 billion debt package for Nvidia hardware, estimating that the proposed funding could cover roughly 360,000 Rubin GPUs across 5,000 Nvidia NVL72 racks. The proposed package reportedly included $10 billion in bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade debt. Musk has now said the financing has closed, but has not confirmed the specific GPU models or quantities covered by the deal.
The spending fits into Musk’s broader push to expand AI computing capacity. In August, xAI outlined plans to increase its data center capacity sevenfold by 2027, targeting 10 gigawatts. In September, the publication also reported that SpaceXAI planned to add another 660,000 Nvidia GPUs during 2026, potentially bringing its total to around 1.44 million if the planned deployments proceed.
And GPUs are only part of the bill. Data centers need power, cooling, networking equipment, and physical infrastructure before those accelerators can do useful work, which underscores SpaceX’s latest move.
SpaceX, meanwhile, has begun selling access to its own infrastructure. In May, Anthropic secured access to SpaceX’s Colossus 1 supercomputer, which includes more than 220,000 Nvidia GPUs and over 300 megawatts of computing capacity. Later in June, SpaceX struck a separate deal with Google, which agreed to pay $920 million per month for access to approximately 110,000 Nvidia GPUs and related hardware, with payments scheduled to run from October 2026 through June 2029.