$40 Billion SpaceX Chip Financing Deal Amid Major AI Capital-Raising Moves
Key Facts
Major artificial intelligence companies announced plans to raise capital and finance infrastructure, including a financing lease for SpaceX computing chips worth nearly $40 billion. SpaceX said Apollo and Goldman Sachs led the financing parties, and Goldman Sachs served as sole structuring agent. On the same day, Meta announced concurrent public offerings totaling about $35 billion, alongside an at-the-market offering program that could reach $60 billion. Anthropic also filed a registration statement for a proposed public offering, with Goldman Sachs among the underwriting banks. The moves come as AI companies compete to finance capital-intensive computing expansion through instruments including equity, leasing and debt financing.
Meta’s plan is not a single completed offering, but a combination of public offerings and an at-the-market offering program. The concurrent portion consists of about $22.5 billion in Class A common stock and about $12.5 billion in depositary shares representing mandatory convertible preferred stock. As for the at-the-market offering program, which could reach $60 billion, the company says it has not yet entered into an agreement for it, and its timing, size and terms have not been determined. The program is expected to begin after Class C shares start trading in the first quarter of 2027. This means the announced total represents a multi-stage financing plan, part of which depends on future arrangements that have not yet been completed.
Meta ties its financing needs to spending on infrastructure and computing capacity required to support AI opportunities. The company expects capital expenditures of between $135 billion and $145 billion in 2026. It has data centers in 23 U.S. states and is building four hyperscale campuses, each with capacity exceeding one gigawatt, while expecting to roughly double its total infrastructure capacity during the year compared with the previous year. The company says it will finance its investments with a mix of operating cash flow, investment-grade debt, strategic partnerships and capital, citing its Aa3 and AA- credit ratings. It also reported operating cash flow of $97 billion during the first three quarters of 2026, and about $82 billion in cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities at the end of the third quarter.
In the SpaceX deal, the financing relates to a master lease for GPU units and related equipment with an Apollo-managed entity, to provide NVIDIA Vera Rubin chips for ground-based computing capacity. The company’s chief financial officer said AI infrastructure investments have payback periods of less than 1 year, and that leasing diversifies funding sources and helps finance growth plans. According to Reuters, each lease term runs a little more than 5 years from the date the equipment arrives. SpaceX expects to close the contract before the end of 2026, with lease schedules to begin when the equipment is delivered in the first half of 2027. Reuters also said the company expects capital expenditures of between $35 billion and $40 billion in the fourth quarter, as additional capacity comes online.
As for Anthropic’s proposed offering, the company announced on October 26 that it had filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and said it intends to list Class A shares on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT. The company did not specify the number of shares offered or the price range. Axios reported that Goldman Sachs is serving as lead left coordinator, followed by Morgan Stanley and 20 other banks; Bloomberg Law also reported that Morgan Stanley will be the price stabilization agent. The financial figures in AP’s report show a net loss of $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026, including a one-time accounting charge of $72.4 billion related to financing agreements, compared with a loss of $13 billion in the same period of 2025.
Reuters places these moves within a broader race for capital: Meta and Anthropic could together raise up to $195 billion from equity markets, alongside SpaceX’s chip deal. Goldman Sachs analysis cited by Reuters estimates that AI-related capital spending could reach $7.6 trillion between 2026 and 2031, and that major technology companies could issue $420 billion in debt in 2027. But Reuters warned that tighter credit and falling stocks are limiting options for smaller companies, while financing costs are rising even for large companies able to raise capital. On October 30, Goldman Sachs shares closed at $894.55, Meta at $614.99 and SpaceX at $134.72, according to EL7 data.