SpaceX Signs $40 Billion GPU Lease Deal

SpaceX disclosed on the 26th local time that it had signed a $40 billion financing lease under which an entity managed by Apollo Global Management will buy AI chips and server equipment and lease them to SpaceX. The filing revealed the structure of a deal Elon Musk announced on X on the 25th, saying he had completed financing for GPU purchases. Musk said the funding would mainly go toward GPUs delivered in the first and second quarters of next year.

The agreement is a binding financing commitment, but final contracts and the disbursement of funds have not been completed. The fixed interest rate for the final contracts will be set later. Equipment will be delivered in multiple batches, with each batch leased for about five years to five years and three months from delivery. The parties plan to complete the deal by the end of this year and begin leasing as equipment arrives in the first half of next year. The $40 billion is the total principal payable over the full lease term; financing costs are additional.

SpaceX said the deal will secure Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin systems, expand its ground data centers, and increase computing capacity for Grok and cloud services for businesses and individuals. Chief Financial Officer Brett Johnson said leasing diversifies the company’s financing sources and covers a substantial portion of the funding needed for its growth plans. He also said the payback period for AI infrastructure investment is less than one year.

Goldman Sachs served as sole structuring adviser. Funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, along with investment accounts advised by KKR, were also named as major funding providers. Bloomberg reported that investors questioned whether returns would justify the pace of AI infrastructure investment, and rising premiums demanded by funders affected negotiations over the deal’s pricing.

SpaceX has investment-grade ratings from the world’s three major credit rating agencies, but its bonds have plunged in price in recent weeks. The premium on credit default swaps, which insure against default, rose to a record 266 basis points on the 23rd before falling to 261 basis points early on the 26th. Musk cited revenue from Starlink and rocket launches to emphasize SpaceX’s ability to raise funds, while arguing that GPU-rental neocloud companies would face financial distress, large-scale failures and consolidation. Neocloud stocks came under pressure after his remarks. CoreWeave countered that it still had opportunities to raise growth funding, citing its differentiated technology and other factors.

SpaceX disclosed on the 26th local time that it had signed a $40 billion financing lease under which an entity managed by Apollo Global Management will buy AI chips and server equipment and lease them to SpaceX. The filing revealed the structure of a deal Elon Musk announced on X on the 25th, saying he had completed financing for GPU purchases. Musk said the funding would mainly go toward GPUs delivered in the first and second quarters of next year.

The agreement is a binding financing commitment, but final contracts and the disbursement of funds have not been completed. The fixed interest rate for the final contracts will be set later. Equipment will be delivered in multiple batches, with each batch leased for about five years to five years and three months from delivery. The parties plan to complete the deal by the end of this year and begin leasing as equipment arrives in the first half of next year. The $40 billion is the total principal payable over the full lease term; financing costs are additional.

SpaceX said the deal will secure Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin systems, expand its ground data centers, and increase computing capacity for Grok and cloud services for businesses and individuals. Chief Financial Officer Brett Johnson said leasing diversifies the company’s financing sources and covers a substantial portion of the funding needed for its growth plans. He also said the payback period for AI infrastructure investment is less than one year.

Goldman Sachs served as sole structuring adviser. Funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, along with investment accounts advised by KKR, were also named as major funding providers. Bloomberg reported that investors questioned whether returns would justify the pace of AI infrastructure investment, and rising premiums demanded by funders affected negotiations over the deal’s pricing.

SpaceX has investment-grade ratings from the world’s three major credit rating agencies, but its bonds have plunged in price in recent weeks. The premium on credit default swaps, which insure against default, rose to a record 266 basis points on the 23rd before falling to 261 basis points early on the 26th. Musk cited revenue from Starlink and rocket launches to emphasize SpaceX’s ability to raise funds, while arguing that GPU-rental neocloud companies would face financial distress, large-scale failures and consolidation. Neocloud stocks came under pressure after his remarks. CoreWeave countered that it still had opportunities to raise growth funding, citing its differentiated technology and other factors.