SpaceX just landed three major customers for its AI compute capacity. The deals generate $27.8 billion a year. That’s more than the entire company earned in 2025.
But here’s the twist. This windfall comes from hardware originally built for xAI’s Grok models. Utilization sat at just 11%. Now those idle GPUs power Anthropic, Google and a fast-rising startup. The shift marks a sharp pivot from heavy losses to potential high-margin cash flow.
Anthropic Leads With Massive GPU Commitment
Anthropic signed first. The deal covers more than 300 megawatts and over 220,000 Nvidia GPUs at SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center. Payments run $1.25 billion monthly through May 2029. That alone equals $18 billion annually. (The Motley Fool)
Google followed in early June. Its contract starts in October and extends to June 2029. The hyperscaler gains access to roughly 110,000 Nvidia GPUs. Monthly revenue hits $920 million. Reflection AI, a smaller but growing player, rounds out the trio with a more modest commitment at Colossus 2.
Combined monthly revenue from the three agreements reaches $2.32 billion. Annualized, the figure stands at $27.8 billion. Compare that to SpaceX’s 2025 total revenue of $18.7 billion across Starlink, launches and the former xAI operations. The new contracts more than double the top line. And this revenue didn’t exist before the IPO.
Yet the story runs deeper than raw numbers. SpaceX’s S-1 filing revealed the AI segment generated $3.2 billion in 2025 revenue but posted a $6.355 billion operating loss. Much of that earlier revenue came from X platform ads and subscriptions rather than pure AI infrastructure. (Forbes)
Q1 2026 showed similar pressure. The AI unit brought in $818 million while losing $2.469 billion from operations. Starlink carried the load with $3.26 billion in revenue and strong profits. Now the compute leasing business flips the script. It turns yesterday’s capital sink into today’s growth engine.
Executives signaled more deals ahead. The S-1 explicitly states expectations for additional similar contracts with third parties. Potential customers include OpenAI and Microsoft. Both face soaring capital expenditures for their own data centers. Renting capacity offers a capital-light alternative at a time when debt loads climb and free cash flow turns negative.
Anthropic’s own business grew tenfold in the past year. If that pace holds, its compute needs could expand sharply. Existing customers might scale their agreements. SpaceX already operates Colossus and Colossus 2 at massive scale in Memphis and Mississippi. Underutilized assets now generate returns without fresh billions in new builds.
Margins could shine. GPU cloud providers such as CoreWeave run gross margins near 70%. SpaceX starts with pre-built capacity. That suggests even higher contribution. Starlink delivers solid margins too. Yet the AI compute line carries potential to throw off billions in free cash flow. Analysts at Goldman Sachs project the AI segment could reach $322 billion in revenue by 2030, a roughly 100-fold increase from 2025 levels. (Reuters)
Such forecasts assume orbital compute, Starship-enabled infrastructure and continued data center expansion. SpaceX pitches a $26.5 trillion addressable market in enterprise AI. The company sees AI opportunities making up 93% of its total $28.5 trillion TAM. (Bloomberg Podcasts via YouTube)
But risks remain. The stock trades at lofty multiples. Even if 2026 revenue hits $50 billion, current valuations sit around 40 times sales. Profitability lacks a long track record. Integration of xAI, completed in an all-stock deal in February 2026, brought heavy losses that Starlink profits had to offset. (TechCrunch)
Contracts carry termination clauses. Some allow exit with 90 days’ notice. Power demands run enormous. New turbine deployments and gigawatt-scale builds add complexity. Starlink subscriber growth continues. Yet ARPU trends lower in some markets. Launches provide steady but cyclical income.
Still, the compute deals change the math. They prove demand for external capacity even among hyperscalers who build their own plants. They validate SpaceX’s bet on massive clusters. And they buy time for Grok to mature while infrastructure pays the bills.
Investors now watch for the next contract. Expansion from current partners. Progress toward profitability. The AI compute business won’t solve every challenge. It does, however, give SpaceX a credible high-margin revenue line that barely existed months ago. In a market hungry for GPU access, that counts.
Recent coverage highlights the speed of these shifts. One analysis notes the Grok model’s early limitations helped open the door for Anthropic’s large commitment. (MarketWise) Another flags that legacy X revenue still dominates the AI segment’s historical figures. The new leasing deals stand apart. Pure. Incremental. And large enough to reshape expectations.
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