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SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.58B on Tuesday, up 161% from a year earlier and above the $12.72B analysts expected, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Net income came in at $4.4B, against a net loss of $1.05B in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings per share were 45 cents versus 13 cents expected.
The company's AI arm, renamed Super Intelligence, became its largest business with revenue of $7.56B, up from $813M a year ago. Connectivity, which is mostly Starlink, brought in $5.25B, and the space segment added $1.77B.
Most of the profit still comes from satellite internet. Operating income in connectivity roughly doubled to $2.37B, while the AI unit turned a $431M profit and the space division lost $7M.
Starlink's subscriber base grew to 13.6M from 12M in the prior quarter.
| Metric | Q3 2026 | Analyst estimate | Year-ago quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $14.58B | $12.72B | — |
| Net income | $4.4B | $1.57B | -$1.05B |
| Super Intelligence (AI) revenue | $7.56B | $6.47B | $813M |
| Connectivity (Starlink) revenue | $5.25B | $4.84B | $3.1B |
| Space (launch) revenue | $1.77B | $1.46B | $1.67B |
The AI money is coming from rented compute, not Grok
SpaceX earns most of its AI revenue by renting out data-center capacity to developers including Anthropic, Alphabet's Google, and Reflection AI, a business model closer to a cloud provider than an AI lab.
That buildout is expensive. Capital spending hit $19.59B in the quarter, up from $6.88B a year earlier.
The spending lands as analysts question AI returns. Gartner researchers estimated last week that more than $3.5T in AI infrastructure spending could face impairment by the end of 2030.
Chief financial officer Bret Johnsen guided first-quarter 2027 revenue to $33B to $37B, far above the $22.2B analysts modeled, citing better visibility into compute contracts.
Boards have formed merger committees
Chief executive Elon Musk told analysts that independent directors at SpaceX and Tesla ($TSLA) have formed special committees to examine combining the two companies.
Musk said he's excluded from the talks as a conflicted party, since he runs both companies.
"This is definitely the kind of question where I feel like I'm tap dancing through a minefield."
Elon Musk, SpaceX
A deal would need shareholder approval, and Musk called a majority of Tesla's outstanding shares quite a high hurdle to clear. He added that the committees haven't agreed on terms and may never do so.
The two are already linked through Terafab, their joint chip manufacturing project, and a $2B Tesla investment in a SpaceX subsidiary disclosed in Tesla's proxy.
Musk projected annual recurring revenue of $500B to $1T by the end of 2027. Analysts currently model full-year 2027 revenue near $110B.
