SpaceX borrows $40 billion to buy AI chips

Elon Musk wrote on X on the 25th of October 2026 that SpaceX has closed 40 billion dollars of debt to buy AI chips. Debt is money borrowed that must be paid back.

SpaceX has not put out its own statement or filing. Musk is the only source for the closed deal.

What Musk wrote about the 40 billion dollars

Musk made the claim in a reply to investor Chamath Palihapitiya on X. GPUs are the chips that train and run AI models.

The chips should arrive in the first half of 2027, Musk wrote in a second post, CNBC reported on the 25th of October 2026.

Why lenders still say yes to SpaceX, by Musk's account

Lenders have "almost entirely shut off" money for firms that earn little outside AI data centres, Musk wrote. A data centre is a building full of computers.

He said SpaceX still gets loans because it is "investment grade" and earns money from Starlink and rocket launches. Investment grade is a credit rating that tells lenders a loan is fairly safe.

Musk says more than 200 neoclouds face trouble

Neoclouds are young firms that rent out AI chips over the internet. Musk wrote that more than 200 of them face "death and consolidation", and few will survive.

Below we break down the deal

Goldman Sachs led talks with investors such as Apollo, Bloomberg reported earlier. The plan used a separate company to keep the debt off SpaceX's own books, Bloomberg said.

SpaceX's AI unit made 7.56 billion dollars in the third quarter, up from 813 million a year earlier, CNBC reported. That is about 9.3 times as much, by our arithmetic.

What is confirmed and what is not

SpaceX has not confirmed the deal itself. CNBC reported that market turmoil had made the loan talks harder before Musk's post.

Key facts

Musk wrote on the 25th of October 2026 that SpaceX closed 40 billion dollars of debt.

The money pays for GPUs, the chips that run AI.

The chips are due in the first half of 2027, Musk said.

SpaceX has not published its own statement.