SpaceX has reported its first quarterly earnings since becoming a public company, posting a sharp rise in revenue and a smaller operating loss as demand for its satellite internet and artificial intelligence businesses continued to expand.
The Elon Musk-led company said second-quarter revenue reached $7.8 billion, up from $4.1 billion in the same period last year and ahead of market expectations of just under $7 billion.
The results were driven by strong growth in Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, and rapid expansion of its AI operations. The company said more than half of its total revenue came from Starlink, where subscriber numbers doubled over the past year to 12 million.
SpaceX also highlighted agreements with several major airlines, including Aer Lingus, United Airlines and American Airlines, which have adopted Starlink’s satellite connectivity services to improve onboard internet access for passengers.
The company’s AI division recorded one of its strongest quarters, with earnings from the business rising about 250% compared with a year earlier. The unit includes the social media platform X, the Grok chatbot and the company’s expanding network of AI data centres.
Chief Executive Elon Musk said SpaceX was rapidly increasing its computing capacity to meet rising demand for advanced AI services.
“We’re building AI compute capacity at a scale faster than anyone else, we believe, and we’re significantly improving our AI models,” Musk said during a conference call following the earnings announcement.
SpaceX invested heavily to support that growth. Capital expenditure rose to $18 billion during the quarter from $2.83 billion a year earlier, with more than 86% of the spending directed toward AI-related projects and infrastructure.
The company has also secured major commercial agreements to rent out surplus computing capacity. According to Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen, contracts with companies including Anthropic and Google are expected to generate an additional $6.7 billion in revenue from computing leases during the six months beginning in October.
Anthropic began using SpaceX’s Colossus data centre near Memphis, Tennessee, in July under an agreement valued at $1.25 billion per month. Google is also expected to begin paying approximately $920 million each month for access to the company’s computing infrastructure.
Despite the strong financial performance, investors reacted cautiously. SpaceX shares fell 7.5% in after-hours trading after gaining 9.4% during the regular trading session ahead of the earnings release.
Market analysts said the decline may also reflect concerns over the expiration of the company’s post-initial public offering lock-up period, which begins on Thursday. The change will allow some employees to sell their shares, potentially increasing the relatively small number of publicly traded shares currently available.
SpaceX has faced pressure to sustain investor confidence since its record-breaking stock market debut, which valued the company at about $1.75 trillion. The latest earnings suggest its expanding satellite communications and AI businesses are becoming increasingly important drivers of future growth.
