SpaceX Posts Surprise $4.4 Billion Q3 Profit as AI Revenue Surges Ninefold

Elon Musk-led aerospace and artificial intelligence company SpaceX posted third-quarter results that far exceeded market expectations, driven by growth in its AI and satellite internet businesses.

Bloomberg reported on October 20 that SpaceX posted net income of $4.4 billion in the third quarter, more than double the market forecast of $1.88 billion. Revenue also climbed 161% from a year earlier, beating expectations.

The main driver of the earnings improvement was the AI division. Third-quarter revenue at SpaceX's AI unit, Super Intelligence, or SI, surged more than ninefold from a year earlier to $7.56 billion. Operating profit totaled $431 million, compared with an operating loss of $1.7 billion a year earlier.

SpaceX supplies computing infrastructure to major AI companies including Anthropic and Alphabet. In August, it acquired AI coding tool developer Cursor. Broader use of Grok, the large language model developed by Musk's AI company xAI, also contributed to the stronger results.

Starlink, the company's satellite internet service, also maintained its growth. Third-quarter subscribers reached 13.6 million, short of the market forecast of 14.2 million. Still, communications revenue rose 69% from a year earlier to $5.25 billion, topping expectations.

Buoyed by the strong results, SpaceX shares rose as much as 4.7% in after-hours trading in New York. SpaceX went public in June at $135 a share and ended the regular session at $147.79. Its market value now stands at about $2 trillion, above Tesla's.

SpaceX is also increasing investment in new businesses, including space data centers and development of the reusable Starship rocket. Still, those businesses involve heavy costs and technical risks, and commercialization is likely to take considerable time.