SpaceX Shares Plunge 13.6% After First Public Earnings as AI Capex Surge and Lockup Spark Selloff

NEW YORK — Shares of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. plunged 13.61% on Wednesday, closing at $108.27 after the company’s first quarterly results as a public firm revealed explosive revenue growth that was overshadowed by heavy capital spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and an impending release of insider shares.

The stock fell $17.06 from its previous close of $125.33, wiping out recent gains and extending a sharp decline from the June IPO peak near $225. After-hours trading saw a modest rebound to about $110. Volume surged well above average as investors weighed the debut earnings report against the scale of ongoing investment and a partial lockup expiration scheduled for Thursday that could free roughly 911 million employee and early-investor shares.

SpaceX reported second-quarter revenue of $7.81 billion, up 92% from $4.07 billion a year earlier and well above Wall Street estimates that clustered near $6.8 billion to $6.9 billion. The net loss narrowed to $541 million from $1.01 billion in the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA rose 191% to $3.54 billion. The company ended the quarter with approximately $100 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities and a backlog of $47.5 billion.

Revenue growth was broad-based. The Connectivity segment, anchored by Starlink, generated $4.29 billion, up 66% year over year, and produced $1.66 billion in operating income. Starlink subscribers doubled to 12 million. The AI segment delivered $2.56 billion in revenue, up 247%, though it recorded a $1.26 billion operating loss. The Space segment contributed $962 million in revenue with a $542 million operating loss, reflecting continued investment in Starship development.

Capital expenditures reached $18.4 billion in the quarter, of which $15.8 billion was directed at AI infrastructure. That level of spending, roughly 235% of quarterly revenue, drew the sharpest focus from investors. Management indicated capital spending would remain elevated at similar levels for at least the next two quarters as the company expands compute capacity, Starship production and next-generation Starlink satellites.

“2026 has been a momentous year so far, and the second quarter demonstrated the true power of SpaceX,” Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said in the earnings release. “Revenue growth accelerated across all our business segments and we delivered strong operating leverage, with significant margin expansion led by our new AI compute agreements. Our unparalleled leadership in launch, Starlink subscriber growth, new enterprise and government partnerships, and best-in-class AI infrastructure underscore our ability to drive meaningful scale and deliver attractive returns.”

On the earnings call, Johnsen said the company had already signed an additional $6.7 billion in cloud services contracts in the early weeks of the third quarter and remained on track to reach a $100 billion annualized revenue run rate by the end of 2026, including expected contribution from the pending $60 billion acquisition of Cursor. He noted that new compute capital deployments were showing a payback period of less than one year.

Chief Executive Elon Musk described an accelerated timeline for long-term growth. Internal projections for reaching $1 trillion in annual revenue had moved forward to 2030 from 2031, with a non-zero chance of achieving the milestone as early as 2029. Musk said SpaceX expects to end 2026 with more than two gigawatts of compute capacity and closer to 10 gigawatts by the end of 2027, relying exclusively on Nvidia hardware for its data centers.

“We’re building AI compute capacity at scale faster than anyone else,” Musk said. On Starship, he stated: “With Starship, our aspirations, and I think we will achieve these aspirations, are to deliver well over 1 million tons to orbit per year, and probably ultimately 10 million tons per year.” He added that the $100 billion annualized revenue run rate target by December “is not a question mark. That’s what we would achieve if we basically did nothing.”

The company also highlighted two successful Starship Version 3 flight tests in the past 90 days, progress toward rapid reusability, the release of Grok 4.5, and more than $6 billion in multi-year U.S. government contracts for Starshield. Cloud services agreements signed in the period totaled $14.1 billion in contracted sales.

Despite the operational strength, investors focused on the capital intensity required to sustain the AI expansion and the near-term supply of shares from the lockup release. The partial unlock on August 6 involves shares held by employees and early investors and is separate from the main 180-day lockup that runs through December and a longer restriction on Musk’s holdings. Analysts and traders had flagged the event as a potential source of volatility in the weeks leading up to the earnings report.

Starlink average revenue per user declined year over year to $66, reflecting expansion into lower-priced international markets even as subscriber growth remained robust. The Space segment showed sequential improvement in revenue but continued to post operating losses tied largely to Starship research and development.

SpaceX completed its initial public offering in June at $135 per share, raising approximately $85.7 billion in net proceeds in what was described as the largest IPO in market history. The company also issued $25 billion in investment-grade senior notes later that month. The stock initially surged above $225 before giving back most of those gains amid concerns over valuation, capital intensity and the approaching unlock of restricted shares.

Wednesday’s decline left the shares below the IPO price and roughly halved from the post-IPO high. Short interest has remained elevated, and options activity showed a pronounced skew toward puts around the $100 and $110 strikes.

Management reiterated that the combination of Starlink cash generation, contracted AI compute demand and a strengthened balance sheet positions the company to fund its multi-year ambitions in launch, connectivity and artificial intelligence while maintaining long-term capital discipline. Investors will now watch the pace of share sales following the lockup release, the trajectory of free cash flow as capital spending continues at elevated levels, and evidence that the AI infrastructure investments are converting into the rapid payback periods management has described.

The first public earnings report delivered clear evidence of rapid top-line growth and expanding adjusted profitability in core areas, yet the market’s reaction underscored the high bar set by the company’s valuation and the scale of investment still required to realize the long-term targets Musk outlined.