SpaceX Revenue Jumps 161.4% in Third Quarter as Superintelligence Leads Segments
Key Facts
SpaceX revenue jumped 161.4%, an increase of $8.999 billion, in the three months ended September 30, 2026, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. An Associated Press report said quarterly revenue reached $14.6 billion and that the company exceeded Wall Street expectations for revenue and net income. The company recorded net income of $4.404 billion, after a net loss of $1.054 billion a year earlier. Operating income also turned positive at $2.791 billion, compared with an operating loss of $273 million in the third quarter of 2025. The results highlight the breadth of the company's business, with superintelligence becoming its largest segment by revenue as connectivity operations continued to grow and infrastructure spending remained high.
Superintelligence segment revenue reached $7.560 billion in the quarter, ahead of connectivity at $5.248 billion and space at $1.767 billion, according to the results statement. The company attributed $6.747 billion of the year-over-year revenue increase to superintelligence, citing the segment's infrastructure contracts and revenue from the Cursor platform following its acquisition. In its statement, the company said the segment added $6.7 billion in solutions and infrastructure revenue compared with the same quarter last year. It linked the growth to cloud services agreements, the acquisition of Cursor, and the expansion of superintelligence models and applications, including Grok Bot. This puts computing contracts and acquisitions at the forefront of the factors the company cited behind the rapid shift in its revenue mix.
Revenue growth was not limited to superintelligence; connectivity segment revenue increased $2.151 billion year over year, while space segment revenue rose $101 million. SpaceX said connectivity revenue grew 69% and its operating income increased 99% in the third quarter compared with the same period a year earlier. The company attributed the segment's performance to continued growth in Starlink subscribers and greater adoption by business and government customers. Starlink had 13.6 million consumer subscriptions as of September 30, compared with 7.2 million a year earlier. The company said the figure represents service lines, not unique people or devices, while the Associated Press described Starlink as the company's biggest profit generator.
The expansion coincided with a sharp increase in capital spending, with total spending reaching $19.593 billion in the third quarter, of which $16.444 billion was allocated to the superintelligence segment. The company said its nominal computing capacity had reached 1.7 gigawatts by September 30, 2026. For the nine months ended on that date, SpaceX recorded operating cash flow of $13.097 billion, against purchases of property and equipment of $48.069 billion. This comparison covers the first nine months of the year, while the $19.593 billion capital spending figure applies to the third quarter alone. Adjusted EBITDA also rose to $8.8 billion, up 306% year over year, according to the company, which classifies the metric as non-GAAP.
After the results were announced on October 20, SpaceX shares rose 7.5% in after-hours trading, according to the Associated Press. The agency reported quarterly revenue of $14.6 billion, up 161% year over year, and said the company posted a profit of $4.4 billion after a loss a year earlier. In the first nine months of 2026, revenue grew 97.5%, an increase of $13.369 billion compared with the corresponding period in 2025. On the results call, Elon Musk said SpaceX would try to catch the booster and spacecraft with mechanical arms when they return to the base during the next Starship launch. The Associated Press reported that the attempt was scheduled for the next launch in the month following its report.