SpaceX said on Thursday that third-quarter revenue rose 161% from a year earlier to $14.58 billion. That was more than double the $5.6 billion posted a year ago, and far above the $12.72 billion average analyst estimate compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
The revenue surge was driven by a ninefold increase in the AI business. SpaceX's AI revenue reached $7.56 billion, surpassing the connectivity business at $5.25 billion. Sales jumped after the company signed contracts to lease spare computing capacity to AI developers including Anthropic and Google. SpaceX said installed computing capacity totaled 1.7 gigawatts (GW) as of the end of September. A year earlier, AI revenue was $813 million. Connectivity includes the Starlink low-Earth-orbit satellite communications business.
That means while Starlink had been the main money maker, AI is now the primary revenue source. As SpaceX builds out its AI business, represented by "Grok," the AI segment expanded rapidly as its $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor flowed through to results. Starting with this quarter's earnings release, SpaceX used the term "superintelligent" (SI) instead of AI, echoing U.S. President Donald Trump.
Operating profit and net profit came in at $2.8 billion and $4.4 billion, respectively. The company swung to a profit after posting a net loss of $541 million in the previous quarter. The result also beat the $1.88 billion market estimate. A year earlier, it recorded a net loss of $1.05 billion. The turnaround lifted adjusted earnings per share to 35 cents, nearly triple the 13-cent consensus.
Despite the sharp rise in AI revenue, Starlink remains the most profitable business. Connectivity operating profit doubled to $2.37 billion. The AI business posted a profit of $431 million. Starlink subscribers reached 13.6 million, up from 12 million in the previous quarter, though growth slowed. Average revenue per user (ARPU) rose to $69 from $66 over three months. SpaceX said Starlink was installed on more than 3,800 aircraft as of the end of the third quarter. Several major U.S. carriers, including American Airlines, are Starlink customers. The market had expected 12.19 million Starlink subscribers.
SpaceX's capital expenditures rose to $19.6 billion in the third quarter from $18.4 billion in the second quarter. Market estimates were at a similar level.
Revenue from SpaceX's launch business was $1.77 billion, up slightly from $1.67 billion a year earlier. The space segment posted a loss of $7 million. The company said total space-segment costs, including launches, rose $367 million from a year earlier, attributing the increase to accelerated development of the Starship program.
SpaceX shares fell 0.11% in regular trading but were up 5.36% in after-hours trading as of 5:11 p.m. Eastern time.
