SpaceX $40 billion debt deal gets pricey as AI fears spread

SpaceX’s $40 billion debt raise is being finalized at sharply higher interest rates than when the rocket company last tapped bondholders, a sign of growing jitters in the AI world.

The lowest-rated portion is expected to carry interest rates of about 8.3%, according to people familiar with the deal, which is being led by Apollo and Goldman Sachs. A safer piece of debt, which is backed by some of SpaceX’s chips, is likely to price next week around 7.75%, the people said. That is more than 1 percentage point more than where SpaceX’s current bonds trade, reflecting an AI-loan market that has pulled back sharply over the past few weeks. President Donald Trump purchased $5 million in SpaceX bonds in August.

Goldman and Apollo declined to comment. Pricing could change by the time the debt is finalized, which is expected sometime next week.

Existing bonds at SpaceX, which is currently considering merging with Tesla, have weakened in recent days as strong earnings were overshadowed by massive spending plans and concerns about the company’s debt load, plus broader AI fears fueled by CoreWeave’s debt selloff. Default insurance on the company also widened, signaling some misgivings on the company’s plans.