SpaceX’s AI business is beating expectations

SpaceX reported $14.6 billion in third-quarter revenue and $4.4 billion in net income, reversing a $1 billion loss in the same quarter a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing cited by TechCrunch. Its renamed “Super Intelligence” segment generated $7.5 billion in revenue from Cursor, Grok, and a neocloud operation with 1.7 gigawatts of compute capacity. The segment recorded $431 million in profit after $1.2 billion in one-time stock-based compensation tied to the Cursor acquisition. AI-related businesses accounted for 52% of SpaceX income, TechCrunch reported. Total capital expenditures reached $19.6 billion as SpaceX built Colossus II in Memphis and invested in Starship and Starlink. CFO Bret Johnsen said the company expected $35 billion to $40 billion in fourth-quarter capital investment. Elon Musk said power, cooling, and other infrastructure—not chips—were the primary constraints on deploying advanced AI systems, and said SpaceX was using its metal-casting capabilities to accelerate turbine procurement. Starlink reached 13.6 million consumer subscribers. Musk said a November Starship test flight would attempt to recover both the booster and second stage, while Johnsen forecast $33 billion to $37 billion in first-quarter 2027 revenue. Musk projected $500 billion to $1 trillion in annual recurring revenue for the Super Intelligence segment by the end of 2027.