SpaceX Says It Closed a $40 Billion Debt Deal for AI Chips as Bloomberg Reports Pricing Was Still Being Set

STARBASE, Texas, Oct. 26, 2026 | Elon Musk said on X on Sunday that SpaceX has closed a $40 billion debt financing, mostly callable debt, to pay for GPUs that arrive in the first half of 2027. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported the same day that pricing talks were still under way and the deal had not yet closed.

Musk wrote that the financing is "mostly callable debt" and is primarily for GPUs due in the first and second quarters of 2027, so it is "not a major factor this quarter." He said SpaceX could raise it because of its investment-grade credit, along with revenue from Starlink and rocket launches. The Edge Malaysia, citing his post and Bloomberg, reports the chips are Nvidia GPUs, while investingLive's summary says only "GPUs." No interest rate, maturity or collateral has been disclosed.

Bloomberg's account, as relayed by The Edge Malaysia and investingLive, describes an off-balance-sheet vehicle rather than a conventional bond sale. Goldman Sachs bankers are working on it, with investors led by Apollo Global Management, and Apollo-backed Atlas SP is set to manage the entity. Pimco had considered investing. The debt would be sold in private placements under Rule 144A. Bloomberg's sources said pricing talks were ongoing as of Sunday, which contradicts Musk's statement that the deal closed. GuruFocus also reports that final pricing was still being negotiated. We have not seen the Bloomberg report directly, so these details come from secondary coverage.

Musk also said debt markets have "almost entirely shut off access to money" for companies that lack substantial revenue independent of AI data centres. He predicted that more than 200 neoclouds, the smaller providers that rent out GPU capacity, face "guppy-level death and consolidation." CoreWeave and Nebius are among the neoclouds named in coverage. He added that SpaceX will not buy any of them, calling it "pointless."

Using figures reported by investingLive, SpaceX's third-quarter revenue rose about 160% to roughly $14.6 billion, and its AI unit, now its largest business, brought in about $7.6 billion, up around ninefold. On those numbers, $40 billion is about 2.7 times one quarter of total revenue ($40 billion divided by $14.6 billion). The AI unit accounted for about 52% of that quarterly revenue ($7.6 billion divided by $14.6 billion). The company has also guided to fourth-quarter capital spending of $35 billion to $40 billion, so the financing is close to one quarter of planned spending, though Musk said the money is for chips arriving in 2027. These are company-reported figures and we cannot independently verify them. The same ratios say nothing about how the debt will be priced or repaid.

The structure also has a history. According to The Edge Malaysia, SpaceX sought up to $20 billion in a 2025 sale-leaseback for xAI with Valor Equity Partners, and it recorded about $13 billion after that deal was declared a "failed sale-leaseback arrangement." On the latest earnings call, CFO Bret Johnsen said the company had "a lot of conviction that we are going to be able to do this in a very measured fashion" while keeping its investment-grade status. Spending at this scale is a recurring theme in our AI spending statistics and in the debate over whether the AI bubble is real.

Chip demand is the other half of the equation. Nvidia's role in AI hardware is covered in our Nvidia AI statistics guide.

Did SpaceX actually close the $40 billion debt deal?

Elon Musk says it did. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that pricing talks were still ongoing on Sunday and the deal had not closed. The two accounts conflict, and SpaceX has not published terms.

What is the $40 billion for?

Musk said it is primarily for GPUs arriving in the first and second quarters of 2027, and that it is not a major factor this quarter.