SpaceX Posts $4.4 Billion Profit as AI Drives Growth

On SpaceX’s earnings call, Elon Musk floated a huge figure. He joked it might give CFO Bret Johnson “a heart attack”: a $500 billion to $1 trillion annual revenue pace by the end of 2027. The projection came after the company reported $14.6 billion in third-quarter revenue and $4.4 billion in profit, sending shares higher Wednesday. ^1,5

That $14.6 billion was up 161% from a year earlier and beat analysts’ expectations by nearly $2 billion. SpaceX’s AI operation, called Super Intelligence, brought in about $7.6 billion, more than half of sales. Starlink ended the quarter with 13.6 million subscribers, up 1.6 million from the prior quarter. The company also forecast $33 billion to $37 billion in first-quarter 2027 revenue, well above analysts’ $22.2 billion estimate. ^2,6

The AI business is the striking change: SpaceX had been known mainly for rockets and Starlink, but its new computing business now brings in the largest share of revenue. Musk said demand for its computing power exceeds available supply. He said it could reach 13 gigawatts by the end of 2027, compared with 1.7 gigawatts at the end of the third quarter. Still, his trillion-dollar figure is his own projection, not formal company guidance. A revenue pace estimate treats the current rate as if it lasted a year, rather than counting sales actually booked over a year. ¹

That gap matters because the forecast asks investors to trust that rapid growth can continue as SpaceX spends heavily to build computing capacity. Quarterly spending on equipment and construction was about $19.6 billion, and the company expects fourth-quarter spending of $35 billion to $40 billion. Investors’ next concrete test is the first-quarter 2027 revenue report. It will show whether the $33 billion to $37 billion forecast is taking shape. ^6,10