SpaceX announced its second-quarter 2026 financial results, revealing a 92% surge in total sales to $7.8 billion, up from $4 billion in the same period last year. This growth was primarily fueled by its AI division, which contributed nearly $2 billion to the revenue increase, and its Starlink satellite internet service, which added $1.7 billion. The company still incurred a net loss of $541 million for the quarter, a decrease from $1 billion in Q2 2025.
The company's capital expenditures, however, ballooned to $18.4 billion, a more than 550% increase from $2.83 billion a year earlier. A significant portion of this spending, $15.8 billion, was allocated to its xAI unit, which operates the Grok AI service, doubling the previous quarter's AI spending. Despite these heavy investments, SpaceX expects to reach a $100 billion annualized revenue run-rate by the end of 2026, with an additional $6.7 billion in cloud services revenue under contract ramping up from October.
SpaceX's AI business generated $2.5 billion in revenue for the quarter but recorded a loss of $1.2 billion. Starlink, in contrast, proved profitable, bringing in $1.6 billion. The company has secured compute deals with major AI firms like Anthropic and Google. Bret Johnson, SpaceX's head of finance, indicated that capital spending levels would remain consistent for the remainder of the year. Elon Musk projected that the company's compute power capacity would reach at least 10 gigawatts by next year, up from the current 1.4 gigawatts.
Following the release of these results, SpaceX's stock experienced volatility, initially surging 9% during regular trading hours but then falling 6.5% in after-hours trading due to concerns over high capital expenditures, particularly for AI. Analysts like Thomas Monteiro of Investing.com noted the positive aspect of AI already monetizing itself, reducing reliance on Starlink profits to fund AI operations. The report is the first quarterly update since SpaceX went public, and it offered an early look into the company's strategy of using Starlink's profits to fund ambitious AI and data center initiatives.
