SpaceX secures $40B GPU lease financing with Apollo for AI infrastructure

SpaceX disclosed in a regulatory filing on Oct. 26, 2026 that it has reached a binding commitment for approximately $40 billion in financing for AI chips and related data center equipment with Apollo Global Management. An entity managed by Apollo will purchase the chips and server hardware, then lease the equipment to SpaceX for about five to 5.25 years. SpaceX expects the deal to close by the end of 2026, with leases starting in the first half of 2027.

Apollo said the financing will help deliver Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX's terrestrial compute buildout. SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said in a statement that the lease diversifies the company's funding sources and addresses a notable portion of the funding required for its growth plans.

SpaceX's AI business includes the Grok chatbot, the Cursor coding tool and its cloud compute business. In the third quarter of 2026, the segment outperformed investor expectations, generating $7.6 billion of SpaceX's $14.6 billion in revenue, more than Starlink and rocket launches combined. Capital expenditures also surged to nearly $20 billion, with the company expecting to spend $35 billion to $40 billion in the fourth quarter.

The massive lease comes amid a turbulent stretch in debt markets for AI infrastructure players. SpaceX called the deal the "largest committed GPU financing" in a statement.