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SpaceX Locks In $40B Apollo-Backed GPU Lease to Expand AI Compute

SpaceX has reached a binding commitment for roughly $40 billion in financing for AI chips and data center equipment, which the company described as the largest committed GPU financing to date. Under the deal, an entity managed by Apollo Global Management will buy the chips and server hardware and lease them to SpaceX for about five years from each delivery. Apollo said the equipment will include Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX’s terrestrial compute buildout.

The deal is expected to close by year-end, with leases beginning in the first half of 2027. CFO Bret Johnsen said the lease diversifies SpaceX’s funding and covers a significant share of the capital needed for its growth plans, adding that its AI infrastructure investments are paying back in under a year as it scales compute for Grok and its cloud services.

The financing follows a strong third quarter in which SpaceX’s AI segment generated $7.6 billion of $14.6 billion in revenue. Capital expenditure rose to nearly $20 billion, with $35 billion to $40 billion expected in the fourth quarter.

The deal comes as debt markets turn cautious on AI infrastructure firms. CEO Elon Musk argued that lenders are shutting out companies without revenue beyond AI data centers, predicting widespread failure and consolidation among the more than 200 neocloud providers.

James Dargan
About the author
James Dargan

James Dargan is a writer and researcher at The AI Insider. His focus is on the AI startup ecosystem and he writes articles on the space that have a tone accessible to the average reader.

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