Technology

SpaceX Stock Drops After Debut Earnings Reveal $15.8 Billion AI Spending Spree

Aderson Aiden

August 8, 2026

Shares of SpaceX stock fell sharply following the company’s first public quarterly earnings report on August 5, 2026. Consequently, the stock plunged over 13% to around $108 per share, sliding well below its $135 initial public offering (IPO) price. Although quarterly revenue jumped 92% year-over-year to $7.8 billion, massive capital investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure unnerved Wall Street. Indeed, investors reacted strongly to the $15.83 billion quarter-over-quarter surge in AI spending. (To learn more about aerospace market trends, explore our internal Global Tech & Aerospace Investments report).

Heavy AI Capex Overshadows Strong SpaceX Stock Revenue Growth

The company beat consensus financial estimates across several core operating metrics. Specifically, Q2 revenue reached $7.8 billion, comfortably surpassing Wall Street forecasts of $6.81 billion. Furthermore, adjusted EBITDA hit $3.5 billion, while net losses narrowed to $541 million from $1 billion in the same period last year.

SpaceX Q2 Financial and AI Capital Allocation

(Breakdown of quarterly performance vs spending)

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Record Revenue Growth

(Q2 revenue surged 92% YoY to $7.8B, driven by Starlink and cloud services)

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Aggressive AI Capital Deployment

($15.83B allocated to data center compute and AI hardware infrastructure)

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Investor Reaction & Stock Pullback

(SpaceX stock drops 13% over long-term capex and margin concerns)

However, the staggering increase in capital expenditure alarmed short-term traders. Out of $18.37 billion in total quarterly capex, SpaceX directed $15.83 billion exclusively toward building out gigawatt-scale AI computing clusters. Additionally, Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen confirmed that heavy capital spending will persist at similar levels for several upcoming quarters.

“I think what the investment community wasn’t overly excited about was the capex number in the AI segment. It’s ambitious.”

— Melissa Otto, Global Head of Visible Alpha Research at S&P Global, quoted by theFinancial Times

Musk Bets Big on Exclusive Nvidia Chips for SpaceX Stock AI Infrastructure

To power its massive expansion, CEO Elon Musk announced an exclusive partnership with chipmaker Nvidia. Consequently, SpaceX will build its orbital and terrestrial data center clusters using Nvidia’s advanced Vera Rubin processors. Furthermore, Musk revealed plans to expand total computing capacity from 2 gigawatts in 2026 to nearly 10 gigawatts by late 2027.

Meanwhile, the company continues expanding its commercial AI cloud partnerships. Recently, SpaceX signed multi-billion dollar agreements with Google and Anthropic to lease data center compute capacity. Nevertheless, analysts note that acting primarily as a cloud infrastructure provider could cap long-term operating margins for SpaceX stock. Therefore, market observers remain divided on whether these heavy upfront investments will yield rapid paybacks.

Financial & AI Metric	Q2 2026 Performance Details
Total Revenue	Reached $7.8 billion, beating the $6.81 billion Wall Street consensus.
AI Segment Capex	Escalated to $15.83 billion, up from $7.7 billion in Q1.
Net Loss	Narrowed to $541 million, beating expected losses of $2.12 billion.
Exclusive Hardware	SpaceX selected Nvidia Vera Rubin GPUs as its sole AI chip supplier.