Elon Musk's SpaceX stated on Tuesday that revenue in the third quarter increased by 161% year-on-year, reaching $14.6 billion, exceeding analysts' forecast of $12.86 billion. This forecast was based on the consensus expectations of Visible Alpha under S& P Global Market Intelligence.
The company reported a net profit of $4.4 million, equivalent to 35 cents per share; whereas in the second quarter, there was a net loss of $541 million, and a year ago, the loss was $5.5 billion. Operating profit has rebounded to $2.79 billion, which is a significant improvement from the $143 million loss in the second quarter and also exceeds analysts' expectations of $2.33 billion.
SpaceX The highly anticipated AI business unit – now renamed “Super Intelligence” – generated revenue of $7.56 billion. This unit includes the computing power leased to Claude developers, Anthropic, Google, Grok, and X. The revenue exceeded analysts' expectations of $6.47 billion and also represented a significant increase from $2.56 billion in the second quarter. SI Revenue nearly tripled this quarter.
Link business revenue, led by Starlink, increased by 69% to $5.25 billion, exceeding analysts' forecast of $4.92 billion; operating profit from the link business nearly doubled to $2.37 billion. Starlink added 1.6 million consumer-level subscribers, which is lower than analysts' expected 2.29 million.
Overall, Space's business revenue increased by 6% to $1.77 billion, which is also higher than the expected $1.46 billion.
Capital expenditure for this quarter was $19.6 billion. However, the financial report did not provide annual guidance, which analysts are eagerly awaiting in order to make forecasts about the outlook. According to data cited by Melissa Otto, the global head of research at Visible Alpha under S& P Global, SpaceX's capital investment is expected to nearly triple from around $70 billion this year to $197.4 billion in fiscal year 2028.
Otto stated in a note prior to the release of third-quarter earnings that consensus forecasts indicate that capital expenditures for connectivity services will soar from $4.2 billion in fiscal year 2025 to $22.8 billion by fiscal year 2028. Meanwhile, SpaceX's debt is expected to increase from $50.7 billion in 2025 to $350 billion in 2029, representing nearly a sevenfold growth.
Earlier this month, SpaceX agreed to acquire the 800-megahertz frequency band license held by investment company Grain Management in order to enhance the indoor coverage of its Starlink Mobile mobile services. This transaction requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States. The financial terms have not been disclosed, but The Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX will pay $8 billion.
The day before the release of third-quarter earnings this time, Musk posted on X stating that he plans to give each child in the United States a portion of SpaceX shares next year, calling it the first of many future donations. Census data shows that there are approximately 72 million children under the age of 18 in the United States, and this gift is worth about $10.5 billion. Currently, all of Musk's SpaceX shares are locked up until 2027, based on a long-term agreement he signed with SpaceX before its listing in June.
