SpaceX stock added another 1.5% in premarket trading Thursday, putting the share price at $153.08. The move came on the heels of a 5.2% gain on Wednesday, when the stock hit $150.88 during midday trading on volume of more than 108 million shares.

The back-to-back gains for Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) come as several catalysts converge at once, spanning an imminent Starship launch, an expanding semiconductor strategy, and a sharp revision of Wall Street's expectations for the company's artificial intelligence business. The advance reflects the combined effect of these developments rather than a single headline.

Starship's 14th Test Flight and Chip Expansion

SpaceX announced it is targeting September 22 for Starship's 14th test flight. The mission would be the rocket's first attempt to place its upper stage into orbit and deploy Starlink V3 satellites. Elon Musk has claimed Starlink V3 could deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of the current network.

The company is also building a chip-making facility with Tesla in Austin, Texas. SpaceX believes semiconductor availability will become a bottleneck to AI growth and is positioning itself ahead of that constraint.

Reports that SK Hynix was in talks with Intel to manufacture memory chips in the United States also gave the stock a lift. Citi analyst Atif Malik said the discussions could expand Intel's partnership with SpaceX, complementing its advanced packaging capabilities.

AI Revenue Forecasts Jump Sharply

Wall Street's AI revenue estimates for SpaceX have been revised upward at a rapid pace. The 2027 AI revenue estimate now stands at $67 billion, up from $38 billion back in June — a rise of roughly 76% in a matter of months. The 2030 estimate has moved to $275 billion from roughly $110 billion over the same period, more than doubling.

Broader indicators of AI demand have strengthened as well. Hyperscaler backlog, a broad proxy for AI demand, ended Q2 at roughly $2.5 trillion, up about 100% year over year. Cloud revenues topped $100 billion for the first time in Q2, and data center capital spending crossed that same threshold. Those are the industry conditions against which SpaceX is scaling its own compute capacity.

SpaceX ended Q2 with 1.4 gigawatts of AI compute capacity and is targeting up to 10 gigawatts by the end of 2027 — a more than sevenfold expansion. The company reported Q2 revenue of $7.81 billion, up 91.9% year over year, beating EPS estimates by $0.17.

Institutional Buying and Analyst Targets

Institutional interest has grown alongside the forecast revisions. HBK Investments initiated a new position in SpaceX during Q2, picking up 237,500 shares valued at approximately $40.6 million. That stake represents about 0.4% of HBK's total portfolio.

Several other funds also initiated new positions in the quarter, including Syntax Research, Atwood and Palmer, and PayPay Securities Corp.

Analyst coverage remains broadly positive. Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating and a $255 price target. Evercore rates the stock Outperform with a $230 target, and Wolfe Research reaffirmed an Outperform rating with a $175 target. The consensus across 43 analysts sits at "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $221.42.

Risks remain, however. SpaceX trades at a negative price-to-earnings ratio of -1,676.44 — a reflection of negative earnings — and roughly 328 million additional shares are expected to become eligible for sale on September 24, two days after the targeted Starship launch, which could add supply and volatility. Since the June IPO, the stock has swung between a high of $225.64 and a low of $104.83, and Thursday's premarket quote sits inside that range.

Source: CoinCentral