SpaceX has reported that its data centers and Grok agents surpassed revenue expectations in the third quarter as the company shifts away from its traditional space operations to concentrate on artificial intelligence, which now accounts for 52% of its earnings.
On Tuesday, CEO Elon Musk’s company released its third-quarter revenue figures, showing a total of $14.6 billion, as per its latest regulatory filing.
This revenue surge was fueled by growth across all sectors, particularly the newly branded “Super Intelligence” division, which brought in $7.5 billion. This amount includes earnings from the newly acquired Cursor coding tool, the Grok bot, and the company’s expanding neocloud services, which are now featuring 1.7 GW of computational power. The AI division generated a profit of $431 million, although this figure would have been higher without a $1.2 billion charge related to stock-based compensation for the Cursor purchase.
The revenue figures were further enhanced by around $1 billion stemming from recovering Bitcoin values, along with unspecified income from related parties, possibly linked to SpaceX’s investments in another firm.
Despite this revenue growth, SpaceX has reported total capital expenditures of $19.6 billion, as it continues to develop its second data center, Colossus II, and boost investments in the Starship rocket, which is critical for launching next-gen Starlink satellites and building orbital data centers. CFO Bret Johnsen indicated that the company anticipates spending between $35 billion and $40 billion on capital investments in the last quarter of the year.
During a live conversation regarding the financial results, Musk revealed he spends four days a week at the Colossus II site in Memphis, Tennessee, working to bring the data center online.
Musk expressed that the major barrier to deploying super intelligence lies more in power, cooling, and infrastructure rather than in chip availability. He mentioned that he has assigned a team of SpaceX engineers to address these challenges. “It’s a bit like the New York Yankees playing in Little League—it’s not exactly a fair match, but it enables us to install power cooling infrastructure at a pace far beyond anyone else,” Musk explained.
He also highlighted that turbine manufacturers face lengthy delays of 12 to 18 months for the metals needed for data center turbines. SpaceX is leveraging its own metal casting technologies to produce these components more rapidly.
Looking ahead, Musk mentioned that the next Starship test launch is set for November, aiming to recover both the first-stage booster and the second stage. Successfully retrieving both sections would mark a significant technological achievement, he noted, while reiterating that being able to reuse both stages will be the real milestone.
Additionally, SpaceX has experienced a rise in subscribers to its Starlink internet service, now reaching 13.6 million customers, with Musk forecasting that the increasing use of AI agents will drive higher demand for connectivity.
Despite substantial capital expenditures, the significant revenue growth has led the company back to profitability. SpaceX recorded a net income of $4.4 billion, reversing a $1 billion loss from the same quarter last year. However, it still needs to improve its profitability for the entire year, as it has reported a net income loss of $413 million for the first nine months.
Musk has shown strong optimism regarding the Super Intelligence division, projecting that by the end of 2027, SpaceX’s annual recurring revenue could reach between $500 billion and $1 trillion.
CFO Johnsen provided more concrete estimates, forecasting total revenue for the first quarter of 2027 to fall between $33 billion and $37 billion.
This is an evolving story. Updates will follow.
