SpaceX has completed a $40 billion debt financing agreement to fund purchases of Nvidia graphics chips, according to Elon Musk, who said the transaction demonstrates that the strongest AI buyers can still raise money even as weaker companies are increasingly being denied access to the credit markets.

Musk confirmed the deal in a series of posts on X on Sunday, October 25, framing SpaceX as an exception to sharply tighter credit conditions across much of the AI sector.

Mostly callable debt for chips due in early 2027

Musk announced that SpaceX had wrapped up $40 billion in debt to fund purchases of GPUs. In a follow-up post, he described the money as mostly callable debt, meaning SpaceX can redeem the borrowings early. According to Musk, the chips the debt is set to pay for are due in the first and second quarters of 2027 and are not seen as a major point this quarter.

The loan terms remain unclear. Reuters reported that it was uncertain whether lenders had agreed to the deal. Musk also did not name any banks or disclose interest rates or repayment dates. Formal confirmation from lenders — along with named participants, rates and maturities — would clarify the final structure of the package.

The planned raise had already been reported before it closed. Yahoo Finance said on October 6 that the $40 billion deal would include about $10 billion in bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade debt, with Apollo Global Management expected to lead the financing. Bloomberg later reported that the borrowing would be done through a separate entity, keeping it off SpaceX's balance sheet and helping to protect the company's credit rating.

Pretty much. As of the past few weeks, debt markets have almost entirely shut off access to money for any company that doesn't have substantial revenue independent of AI data centers. SpaceX closed $40B of debt for GPUs, but we're investment grade and have Starlink & launch revenue. That means the 200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death and consolidation. Some will make it through, but not many.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 25, 2026

Investment-grade status and Starlink revenue did the heavy lifting

Musk said SpaceX's investment-grade rating and its revenue from Starlink and launches were instrumental in securing the funding. An investment-grade rating signals comparatively low default risk to bond buyers, a distinction that generally keeps large institutional pools of capital open to a borrower. SpaceX's third-quarter revenue rose 161% from a year earlier to $14.58 billion, according to Reuters. Quartz reported that the company's AI unit generated $7.56 billion in the three months to September 30, up from $813 million a year earlier. Starlink's connectivity business, meanwhile, recorded $2.37 billion in operating income for the quarter, according to Yahoo Finance.

The financing is not SpaceX's first large debt raise. In June, the company raised $25 billion in its debut bond sale, attracting nearly $90 billion in orders. The proceeds from that offering were used to repay a bridge loan.

More than 200 neoclouds face 'death and consolidation'

The second half of Musk's message carried a warning for the rest of the industry. He stated that debt markets have "almost entirely shut off access to money" over the past few weeks, especially for any company lacking substantial revenue independent of AI data centers.

He singled out neoclouds — firms that rent out computing power built for AI customers — claiming that more than 200 such firms exist, but that only a few are likely to survive as the industry consolidates. In such a model, rental income from the hardware must service the debt taken on to buy it.

"That means the 200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death and consolidation," Musk wrote. "Some will make it through, but not many."

According to Musk, acquiring the struggling companies outright was also not a viable option, an idea he dismissed as "pointless." CoreWeave and Nebius are examples of neoclouds that rent out Nvidia GPUs and rely on debt to fund their expansion. Investors, for their part, have been betting heavily against U.S. data center and neocloud stocks amid concerns that companies are borrowing heavily to finance growth they may not be able to sustain.

What the SpaceX balance sheet shows

The numbers help explain the appetite for cash behind the deal. SpaceX ended September with $51.3 billion in cash and $38.6 billion in marketable securities, against a total debt figure of $38.8 billion, Yahoo Finance reported. If the full $40 billion is secured, total debt would roughly double to about $79 billion.

SpaceX is also spending far more than it brings in from its operations. In the third quarter, it generated $9.6 billion in cash but spent $19.6 billion on investments. In the first nine months of the year, spending reached $48.1 billion, while cash from operations totaled just $13.1 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen expects the company to spend another $35 billion to $40 billion in the fourth quarter alone. At that rate, the new loan would cover roughly a quarter of its spending.

Last week, Musk also said a merger between Tesla and SpaceX would be "a good idea." He added that both companies had formed independent committees to consider the deal, while emphasizing that no decision had been made at the time.