SpaceX reports $541m loss but beats expectations

SpaceX reported a net loss of $541 million, or 9 cents per share, for the second quarter of 2026, less than half of what analysts had projected, according to a regulatory filing on August 4, 2026. Revenue soared to $7.8 billion, up more than 90 percent from a year earlier and exceeding forecasts of about $6.9 billion.

The company ended the quarter with $100 billion in cash. SpaceX also touted $6 billion in new U.S. government contracts for its Starshield national-security satellite system and completed two successful launches of its Starship V3 rocket during the quarter.

Starlink and broader connectivity services remain the primary financial engine, funding Elon Musk’s push to build an AI-first business that extends from renting compute capacity to developing frontier AI models and eventually space-based data centers. Capital spending on Starlink, Starship expansion and AI infrastructure totaled $18.37 billion in the quarter.

The AI division posted an operating loss of $1.2 billion, even as the company released its most powerful Grok model yet. The release comes amid global lawsuits over the model’s use in generating sexualized images without consent.

Separately, SpaceX said it partnered with Nvidia to use its chips in the Starmind AI1 orbital compute satellites. Musk said the company expects to launch its Starmind AI satellites in 2027.

Shares of SpaceX, which had fallen 8 percent since its record-breaking initial public offering earlier this year—a debut that briefly made Musk the world’s first trillionaire—surged 9.4 percent in regular trading on August 4 before tumbling 7.2 percent in after-hours trading.