SpaceX wants to borrow $40 billion to buy computer chips. If it gets the money, it would be one of the biggest debt financings yet for the artificial intelligence boom.
According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk’s company is in talks with banks and investors to raise the money for chips from Nvidia. The people familiar with the matter who described the plans spoke anonymously because the discussions are private. Bloomberg said the talks are at an early stage and could end without a deal. SpaceX, Apollo and Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.
How the package would work
The Financial Times, as cited by Reuters, reported that SpaceX plans to raise about $10 billion through bank loans and about $30 billion through investment-grade debt. Apollo Global Management is expected to lead the financing. Bond giant Pimco is among a small group of lenders in discussions, and Pimco declined to comment, according to the same reports. The transaction is expected to close in 2027.
The chips are meant for SpaceX’s AI data centers. According to Bloomberg, Musk said last month that the Colossus 2 cluster at xAI, which currently holds 110,000 Nvidia GB200 chips and 440,000 GB300s, could see its chip count more than double before the end of the year.
A company that now answers to shareholders
SpaceX is listed on the stock market under the ticker SPCX. Its shares slipped on Wednesday after the news. Yahoo Finance reported a fall of about 2.5%, while Quartz noted a drop of roughly 1% in extended trading the evening before. Nvidia’s shares barely moved.
Crypto Briefing reported that the proposed package would follow an IPO and a $25 billion bond sale, which would push SpaceX’s fundraising over the past four months beyond $150 billion. That tally comes from a secondary outlet, and I could not confirm it against the original reporting.
Wall Street is split on how much borrowing is too much. Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives, a prominent SpaceX bull, said the deal gives the company “firepower for [SpaceX’s] AI buildout.” He also acknowledged the debate over whether a company this early in its public life should carry so much leverage. He argued that contracted backlog supports the plan.
Why it matters beyond Musk
The deal fits a pattern. Quartz noted that Apollo was one of six financial firms, alongside BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR, that partnered with Nvidia in August to set up compute financing platforms. The aim is to mobilise more than $500 billion in outside capital for AI infrastructure.
In other words, the AI buildout is increasingly paid for with borrowed money, not just company cash. That matters to ordinary savers because investment-grade bonds are a staple of pension funds, insurers and bond funds. A large new issuer competes for the same pool of money, and the creditworthiness of that debt becomes part of many retirement portfolios.
It also matters for anyone holding Nvidia or SpaceX shares through an index fund. Heavy chip spending supports Nvidia’s sales. If AI demand fails to cover the borrowing costs, the risk falls on lenders and shareholders.
Nothing is final. The financing is not signed, terms have not been published, and the companies have not confirmed the talks. Investors will be watching for any word from SpaceX or Apollo on pricing and timing.