SpaceX now expects to reach $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, a year sooner than its pre-IPO forecast, CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s first earnings call as a public company.
SpaceX shares fell in after-hours trading Tuesday, then extended losses to roughly 14% during Wednesday’s session. Investors focused on surging capital spending instead of the earnings beat.
Faster Path to $1 Trillion
Despite its stock performance, SpaceX reported $7.81 billion in second quarter revenue, up 92% year over year. That beat the $6.81 billion analysts expected. Adjusted EBITDA reached $3.5 billion, nearly double Wall Street’s $2 billion forecast.
The report marked SpaceX’s first earnings beat since going public last month.
Musk addressed the long-term outlook directly on the call, framing the accelerated timeline as an internal projection rather than a promise.
Our internal projections for reaching $1 trillion in revenue… have moved up from 2031 to 2030, and there’s a non-zero chance of that being in 2029.
— Elon Musk, SpaceX
AI Capex Drives Selloff
Capital expenditures climbed to $18.37 billion, more than six times what SpaceX spent in the same period last year. Most of that spending, $15.83 billion, went into its AI business. That topped the $13.22 billion analysts had modeled, according to FactSet.
The AI segment includes SpaceX’s new Nvidia satellite partnership, announced hours before earnings. The deal will put Nvidia Rubin GPUs into orbit for in-space computing.
Starlink revenue rose 66% to remain SpaceX’s only profitable segment, though revenue per subscriber fell. SpaceX also faces a lockup expiration this week. It could release close to a fifth of outstanding shares, adding pressure on the stock.
Whether SpaceX’s AI bet pays off before its next report will shape investor patience with the 2030 target.