SpaceX profit beats estimates on 161% revenue jump, growth in AI, satellite internet businesses
SpaceX shares rose by as much as 4.7 per cent as of 4.50 pm in New York.
- SpaceX has become a major provider of computing power and infrastructure to Anthropic, Alphabet and other companies. PHOTO: REUTERS
[WASHINGTON] SpaceX earned more revenue and profit than analysts expected for the quarter, thanks to strong growth in its artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite internet businesses.
Elon Musk’s company, which works in satellites, rockets and AI, reported US$4.4 billion in net profit for the three months ending in September. This was much higher than the average US$1.88 billion that analysts had expected. Revenue also rose 161 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier, beating expectations.
SpaceX shares rose by as much as 4.7 per cent as of 4.50 pm in New York, after regular trading ended. The share price has moved up and down sharply since the company made its record-breaking stock market debut in June, when its shares were priced at US$135 each. The shares closed at US$147.79 on Tuesday.
SpaceX is worth US$2 trillion on the stock market. This puts it alongside several of the world’s largest companies and makes it more valuable than Musk’s Tesla. Its high value is partly based on the billionaire entrepreneur’s promises to develop advanced technologies as he expands his business empire.
Musk’s plans include building data centres in space and developing Starship, a rocket designed to be reused quickly. These projects will be expensive and risky, and they will probably take years to become reality.
Even so, Wall Street investors remain very positive about SpaceX because Musk has a history of changing long-established industries.
Revenue from SpaceX’s AI business, now called Super Intelligence, or SI, reached US$7.56 billion for the quarter. That was more than nine times the amount the business earned a year earlier.
SpaceX has become a major provider of computing power and infrastructure to Anthropic, Alphabet and other companies. In August, it also bought Cursor, the company behind a popular AI coding tool.
These developments, together with more people using Grok, the large AI language models developed by Musk’s xAI, helped SpaceX’s AI business earn US$431 million from its operations in the third quarter. A year earlier, the business had lost US$1.7 billion from its operations.
SpaceX said the number of people subscribed to its Starlink satellite internet service, its biggest source of income, reached 13.6 million by the third quarter. This was below the 14.2 million that analysts had expected.
Even so, revenue from the company’s internet and connectivity business beat expectations. It rose 69 per cent from a year earlier to US$5.25 billion. BLOOMBERG