Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) shares climbed 9.43% to $125.33 after the company's second-quarter revenue nearly doubled year-over-year and exceeded analyst expectations. The stock later declined 5.45% in after-hours trading to $118.50, as investors reacted to sharply elevated capital expenditures reported in the company's first public earnings release. The report marks a landmark moment for a company founded by Elon Musk in 2002 that had been privately held for over two decades, making these results the first detailed financial window into one of the space industry's most closely watched operations.

SpaceX posted quarterly revenue of $7.81 billion for the three months ending June 30, 2026, surpassing the $6.93 billion consensus estimate compiled by LSEG. The figure represented a 92% increase from $4.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, driven by growth across connectivity, launch services, and AI operations. Despite the strong top-line performance, the company reported a $541 million net loss attributable to shareholders, as heavy investments offset operating gains.

Starlink Leads Revenue and Profitability

The connectivity segment, anchored by the Starlink satellite network — the world's largest commercial satellite constellation, with thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit — generated $4.29 billion in revenue, easily beating StreetAccount's $3.83 billion estimate and ranking as the largest of SpaceX's three operating divisions. Starlink also produced $1.66 billion in operating income, making connectivity the company's sole profitable business segment during the quarter.

Demand expanded across consumer, enterprise, aviation, maritime, military, and government customer segments as SpaceX extended coverage into additional international markets. Lower-priced international service plans reduced average revenue per user, reflecting the company's strategy of offering affordable packages in newly entered overseas territories. The service faces growing competition from emerging satellite internet entrants such as Amazon's Project Kuiper, though that constellation remains in early deployment.

SpaceX continued launching additional satellites, expanding network capacity, and developing direct-to-device mobile connectivity features designed to broaden coverage and customer access. While these initiatives strengthened the network's global reach, higher deployment costs pressured short-term margins and profitability.

AI and Starship Investments Drive Losses

During the quarter, SpaceX invested a combined $18.37 billion across AI infrastructure, Starship development, and the broader Starlink satellite network expansion. The scale of spending underscores SpaceX's strategy of simultaneously building out three capital-intensive platforms — satellite broadband, next-generation launch capability, and orbital computing — rather than scaling them sequentially. The AI segment generated $2.56 billion in revenue, exceeding StreetAccount's $2.18 billion forecast following expansions in data center and computing capacity. However, the unit posted a $1.26 billion operating loss as costs related to computing, software, staffing, and model development rose sharply.

The space segment produced $962 million in revenue, beating the $835 million analyst estimate, but recorded a $542 million operating loss. Falcon rocket launch activity remained robust, though SpaceX allocated a growing share of missions to internal Starlink satellite deployments rather than external customer payloads. The company remains the dominant U.S. launch provider by flight volume, with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy having established a high cadence of reusable rocket operations. Starship, which has not yet entered commercial service, continued to incur significant testing, manufacturing, engineering, and development costs.

SpaceX intends to deploy Starship for launching larger Starlink satellites and establishing future orbital computing infrastructure once commercial operations commence. The fully reusable vehicle is designed to carry substantially more payload than Falcon 9, which would reduce per-kilogram launch costs if development milestones are met. The company has also partnered with Nvidia to supply chips for its Starmind AI1 orbital compute satellite program, which is currently under development.

Separately, the post-IPO lock-up period begins expiring on Thursday, a milestone that could increase the number of shares available for trading following SpaceX's record public market debut in June. Lock-up expirations are commonly watched events after major IPOs, as they can alter the supply of freely tradable shares.