One-sentence summary
In the early hours of October 21, 2026 (Beijing time), SpaceX released its Q3 2026 results: revenue reached USD 14.58 billion, up 161% year over year, with net profit of USD 4.4 billion, its first quarterly profit since its IPO in June 2026; AI business (Super Intelligence) revenue hit USD 7.56 billion, up 830%, accounting for 52% of quarterly revenue and surpassing Starlink as the largest revenue source.
Event Overview
- In the early hours of October 21, 2026 (Beijing time), SpaceX (SPCX.US) released its results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, its second quarterly report since its June 2026 IPO and its first quarterly profit.
- Revenue reached USD 14.58 billion, up 161% year over year, above the LSEG analyst consensus of USD 12.72 billion; net profit was USD 4.4 billion versus a net loss of USD 1.05 billion a year earlier, also far above the USD 1.57 billion consensus.
- Adjusted EBITDA was USD 8.81 billion, up 306% year over year, more than 30% above expectations.
Key Information
| Metric | Value | YoY | Consensus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | USD 14.58B | +161% | USD 12.72B (LSEG) |
| Net profit | USD 4.4B | Turnaround (USD 1.05B loss a year ago) | USD 1.57B |
| Adjusted EBITDA | USD 8.81B | +306% | More than 30% above |
| AI (Super Intelligence) revenue | USD 7.56B | +830% | USD 6.47B |
| Starlink revenue | USD 5.25B | +69.4% | Above consensus |
| Launch services revenue | USD 1.77B | +6% | USD 1.46B |
| Nameplate compute | 1.7 GW | 1.4 GW as of June 30 | — |
Background and Impact
- Revenue structure flipped: AI business contributed 52% of total revenue this quarter; three months ago Starlink contributed about 55% and AI only 33%. The AI segment lost USD 1.26 billion last quarter and turned profitable this quarter to become the largest revenue source, driven by new cloud service contracts, the acquisition of Cursor and accelerating Grok adoption in enterprise and consumer markets.
- Starlink users grew to 13.6 million, up 1.6 million quarter over quarter, with consumer ARPU up 5% sequentially to USD 69.
- On the earnings call, Elon Musk said SpaceX is confident in bringing 10 GW of compute online in 2027 and did not rule out 20 GW next year; he projected annual recurring revenue (ARR) of USD 500 billion to USD 1 trillion by the end of 2027, and stated SpaceX revenue would reach USD 1 trillion in 2028.
- Responding to merger rumors on the call, Musk said there would be many benefits to merging Tesla and SpaceX; the two companies have formed special committees to discuss a potential merger, that he is conflicted and not on the committee, and that any merger still needs shareholder support.
- Market reaction: after the release, SpaceX shares, which closed down 0.11% the previous session, turned higher in after-hours trading, rising more than 8% at the time of writing.