SpaceX Posts Record Capital Expenditure of $19.593 Billion in Third Quarter
Key Facts
SpaceX reported capital expenditure of $19.593 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up from $18.369 billion in the second quarter and $6.880 billion a year earlier, according to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Revenue rose to $14.575 billion, compared with $5.576 billion in the third quarter of 2025. Operating income swung to $2.791 billion, after an operating loss of $273 million a year earlier. Total capital expenditure reached $48.069 billion in the nine months ended September 30. The results put the scale of the investment expansion alongside accelerating revenue and a swing to positive operating income.
Quarterly spending was concentrated in the superintelligence segment, which accounted for $16.444 billion, compared with $1.606 billion for the space segment and $1.543 billion for the connectivity segment. Superintelligence spending alone totaled $39.995 billion in the first nine months of the year. The segment reported revenue of $7.560 billion in the third quarter, compared with $813 million in the corresponding period of 2025. It also posted operating income of $431 million, after an operating loss of $1.722 billion a year earlier. The company said the segment’s solutions and infrastructure added $6.7 billion to revenue year over year, driven by new cloud-service agreements, the acquisition of Cursor and increased adoption of Grok.
The company expanded its nominal computing capacity to 1.7 gigawatts as of September 30, from 1.4 gigawatts as of June 30 and 0.6 gigawatts a year earlier. SpaceX attributed the increase to continued construction of COLOSSUS II as part of its computing-infrastructure expansion. In its space business, the company said it completed Starship’s first revenue-generating mission during the third quarter. The mission carried 26 Starlink V3 satellites into the constellation. The company added that the payload represents about 10 times the download capacity added by a single launch of Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX’s June 2026 initial public offering raised net proceeds of $85.675 billion, after deducting underwriting commissions and offering costs of $575 million. At the end of September, the company reported $51.294 billion in cash and cash equivalents, alongside $38.561 billion in short-term marketable securities. It said available liquidity sources were sufficient to meet its expected cash needs for at least 12 months from the report date. Net cash generated from operating activities totaled $13.097 billion in the first nine months, an increase of $8.977 billion from the corresponding period of 2025. The company attributed part of the increase to $4.518 billion in support from deferred revenue within working capital.
The company raised its fourth-quarter capital expenditure forecast to a range of $35 billion to $40 billion, after spending $19.6 billion in the third quarter, according to the Associated Press. The guidance means expected spending in the coming period will exceed the third-quarter level as infrastructure expansion continues. The agency reported that the company’s shares rose 7.5% in after-hours trading after results were announced on October 20, 2026. In the context of Starship plans, Elon Musk said the company would try on the next launch to catch the booster and spacecraft with mechanical arms as they return to the base. Musk described success in the attempt as a major technical achievement.