Key Highlights

  • SpaceX shares fell roughly 8% in after-hours trading despite second-quarter revenue of 7.81 billion dollars, up 92% year over year and above the 6.93 billion dollar consensus estimate.
  • Net loss narrowed to 541 million dollars from 1 billion dollars a year earlier, with loss per share of 9 cents far narrower than the 26 cent consensus estimate.
  • Total capital expenditures surged to 18.4 billion dollars for the quarter, with 15.8 billion dollars allocated specifically to AI compute infrastructure.
  • The Connectivity segment, anchored by Starlink, remained the company's only profitable business, generating operating income of 1.66 billion dollars during the quarter.

A Strong Beat Overshadowed by Capital Spending Concerns

SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) reported second-quarter revenue of 7.81 billion dollars, up 92% from 4.1 billion dollars a year earlier, comfortably beating the 6.93 billion dollar consensus estimate in the company's first earnings report since its record initial public offering in June. Net loss narrowed significantly to 541 million dollars from 1 billion dollars in the prior-year period, with loss per share of 9 cents coming in far narrower than the 26 cent average analyst estimate, though the company noted this figure is not directly comparable given its recent transition to public company status.

Despite this across-the-board outperformance, shares fell roughly 8% in after-hours trading, extending a decline that has left the stock down 16% since its June 12 opening price of 150 dollars per share. The scale of the after-hours reaction suggests investors focused more heavily on the company's surging capital expenditures and continued segment-level losses than on the substantial revenue and loss-per-share beats.

Segment Performance Reveals a Stark Divide in Profitability

All three of SpaceX's business segments beat revenue expectations, with Space segment revenue of 962 million dollars topping the 835 million dollar estimate, Connectivity revenue of 4.29 billion dollars beating the 3.83 billion dollar estimate, and AI segment revenue of 2.56 billion dollars exceeding the 2.18 billion dollar estimate. However, profitability varied dramatically across these segments, with Connectivity, anchored by the company's Starlink satellite internet service, generating operating income of 1.66 billion dollars while the Space segment posted an operating loss of 542 million dollars and the AI segment posted a substantially larger operating loss of 1.26 billion dollars.

This divergence means Connectivity remains the company's sole source of profitability, even as AI segment revenue grew 247% year over year and achieved positive adjusted EBITDA of 1.1 billion dollars for the first time. Starlink subscribers doubled year over year to 12.0 million by quarter's end, with the company reporting continued momentum across both consumer and enterprise and government channels, including new partnerships with major airlines and international carriers.

Heavy AI Investment Drives a Sharp Rise in Capital Spending

Total capital expenditures reached 18.4 billion dollars for the quarter, with 15.8 billion dollars specifically allocated to AI compute infrastructure as the company expanded its nameplate compute capacity to 1.4 gigawatts, up from 1.0 gigawatt in the prior quarter. This scale of AI-related investment reflects the company's stated ambition to reach a target of roughly 20 gigawatts of power and cooling capacity online by the end of next year, a buildout pace that requires substantial ongoing capital commitment well beyond the company's traditional aerospace operations.

The company separately announced an agreement to acquire Cursor for 60 billion dollars to accelerate its AI enterprise offerings, alongside the July release of its Grok 4.5 AI model. SpaceX ended the quarter with 100 billion dollars in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities following its IPO and a 25 billion dollar bond issuance, providing substantial capacity to fund this level of investment, though the pace of spending appears to be a central factor weighing on investor sentiment despite the company's strong underlying revenue growth.

Conclusion

SpaceX's first quarterly report as a public company illustrates a business generating substantial revenue growth and narrowing losses, even as aggressive AI infrastructure investment continues pressuring near-term profitability outside its Connectivity segment. The scale of the after-hours stock decline, despite beating estimates across nearly every metric, suggests investors remain cautious about the pace and scale of capital spending required to build out the company's AI ambitions. Whether this investment translates into durable AI segment profitability is likely to be a central question for investors as SpaceX continues navigating its transition to public markets.