SpaceX has delivered a better-than-expected quarterly loss in its first financial report as a publicly traded company, even as investors scrutinise its heavy spending on artificial intelligence and question whether Elon Musk has overstated the company's prospects.
The rocket, satellite and AI firm posted a net loss of $541 million (€469 million), or 9 cents per share, for the three months ending in June. That was less than half the figure analysts had anticipated. Revenue surged to $7.8 billion (€6.8 billion), a jump of more than 90% compared with the same period last year.
The standout performer was SpaceX's connectivity division, its main cash generator. Revenue in that segment rose 66% year-on-year as the number of subscribers to its Starlink satellite internet service doubled to 12 million. Musk told analysts on a call that it was "not out of the question that at some point, Starlink will deliver a majority of the world's internet."
Stock swings on IPO worries
Shares in SpaceX rose 9% in regular trading on Tuesday but gave back most of those gains after hours. The stock has fallen by roughly half since peaking in June, shortly after an initial public offering that briefly made Musk the world's first trillionaire.
Investors are concerned that Musk may have oversold the company's prospects in space travel and its Grok AI chatbot. Markets are also bracing for volatile trading later in the week, when a lockup provision preventing some company insiders from selling shares begins to expire. Shares jumped 19% on their first day of trading in June, but the subsequent slide, combined with a drop in shares of Musk's electric carmaker Tesla, has pulled his fortune down to $783 billion (€679 billion), according to Forbes.
AI spending under scrutiny
SpaceX's spending on infrastructure and research and development jumped to $18 billion (€15.6 billion), up from less than $3 billion (€2.6 billion) a year earlier. Chief financial officer Bret Johnsen said investors should expect similarly high capital expenditure over the next two quarters.
Musk defended the spending, a challenge also facing other technology companies pouring money into AI. He said the growth it was fuelling meant SpaceX would reach $1 trillion (€870 billion) in annual revenue a year earlier than planned, in 2030 rather than 2031.
Starship tests loom
Musk faced repeated questions about Starship, the giant rocket central to his long-term ambitions for the company. It successfully deployed satellites during a test late last month. He said SpaceX plans to test Starship's reusability at the end of the month, attempting to catch the spacecraft and its booster with mechanical arms on their return to base.
NASA hopes to use Starship to return astronauts to the Moon. "We want to put boots on the ground — boots on the Moon — in 2028," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said.
More than 900 million shares are due to be released for trading on Thursday, more than doubling the amount currently available, as the first of several lockup tranches expires over the coming months.
The company's results come amid broader market concerns about AI spending, as seen in Microsoft's record profit but Meta's cost struggles. European investors, particularly those in tech hubs like Berlin and Stockholm, are watching closely to see if the AI boom can sustain such high capital outlays.
