$7.8 Billion in Revenue, Narrowing Losses, $15.8 Billion Burned on AI: SpaceX’s First Earnings Report Reveals Two Extreme Curves

Revenue surged 92% year over year and losses were cut nearly in half. But SpaceX also burned $15.8 billion on AI in a single quarter — its first earnings report since going public reveals two curves heading in completely opposite directions.

In the early hours of August 5 Beijing time, SpaceX released its first quarterly report since going public.

In the second quarter of 2026, the company generated $7.814 billion in total revenue, up 92% year over year and nearly 13% above Wall Street expectations. Net loss narrowed from $1.008 billion a year earlier to $541 million. Adjusted EBITDA reached $3.538 billion, up 191% year over year.

The headline numbers looked strong.

Yet SpaceX shares plunged as much as 8.8% after the report, wiping more than $100 billion from its market value at one point.

The market’s focus was not on revenue. It was on another number:

Quarterly capital expenditure hit $18.37 billion — more than six times the year-ago level — with AI alone accounting for $15.828 billion, or 86% of the total.

The Revenue Mix Has Been Completely Reshaped

SpaceX divides its business into three segments: Space, Connectivity, and AI.

In the second quarter, Connectivity contributed 55% of total revenue, AI accounted for 33%, while Space represented just 12%.

The Connectivity business, centered on Starlink, generated $4.291 billion in revenue, up 66% year over year.

Starlink’s global subscriber base doubled to 12 million, with 1.7 million net additions during the quarter. Its government-focused Starshield business secured more than $6 billion in multi-year contracts.

The segment generated $1.656 billion in operating profit, with an operating margin approaching 39%.

It is currently the only profitable segment of the company.

The AI business generated $2.561 billion in revenue, up 247% year over year.

In the previous quarter, AI had posted an operating loss of $2.47 billion, prompting concerns that the business could become an endless drain on SpaceX’s profits.

But in Q2, operating losses fell to $1.257 billion, a 49% sequential improvement and significantly better than the $2.39 billion loss analysts had expected.

Adjusted EBITDA reached $1.146 billion, turning positive for the first time.

At the same time, SpaceX spent $15.828 billion on AI capital expenditure, primarily to build out its Colossus II computing infrastructure.

The Space segment generated $962 million in revenue, up 29% year over year, while operating losses widened 47% to $542 million.

SpaceX conducted 38 launches during the quarter, 28 of them dedicated to internal Starlink deployments.

The widening loss was largely attributed to continued investment in Starship V3, with quarterly R&D spending reaching $1.076 billion, up 55% year over year.

Where Is All the Money Coming From? The IPO Gave SpaceX a Massive War Chest

On June 12, SpaceX went public on the Nasdaq at $135 per share, raising roughly $75 billion.

Combined with the $25 billion investment-grade bond offering completed on June 26, the company ended the second quarter with around $100 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Total assets ballooned from $92.079 billion at the end of 2025 to $192.77 billion.

CFO Bret Johnsen was blunt about what that means: the capital gives SpaceX enormous capacity to invest in its businesses.

But investors were not entirely convinced.

Since its June 12 IPO, SpaceX shares initially surged from the $135 offering price to a high of $225 before falling to around $117, wiping more than $1.2 trillion from its market value.

On August 6, another 911.5 million restricted shares were scheduled to become eligible for trading — nearly half the size of the current public float.

Short interest had surged to 219.3 million shares, representing roughly 34% of publicly traded shares.

Morgan Stanley had previously warned that this could be one of the most dangerous moments for the newly listed company.

One Company, Three Businesses at Completely Different Stages

SpaceX is effectively running three businesses at three very different points in their life cycles.

Starlink is mature and generates the cash.

AI infrastructure is expanding at breakneck speed — and consuming capital just as quickly.

Starship remains a long-term R&D bet that could ultimately determine the ceiling of SpaceX’s ambitions.

In the company’s earnings statement, CFO Bret Johnsen said the second quarter demonstrated SpaceX’s underlying strength.

Elon Musk, meanwhile, said during the earnings call that SpaceX expects to significantly accelerate its AI development efforts and rapidly increase Starship launch frequency.

He suggested that within roughly a year, Starship could potentially reach a launch cadence of at least once a day.

The bad news?

SpaceX is still not profitable.

The good news?

It has roughly $100 billion in cash.

Investors are not simply buying SpaceX for its current earnings.

They are betting on whether all three engines can eventually work at scale:

Starlink generates the cash.
AI drives the growth.
Starship provides the upside.