SpaceX spending surged in 2025 as it invested in AI and Starship

In short: SpaceX said it spent far more money on long term projects in 2025, including AI infrastructure and Starship, even as revenue grew.

What happened

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, disclosed new financial details showing a major jump in capital expenditures in 2025. Capital expenditures, often called capex, are big purchases meant to help a company build for the future, like building factories, buying specialized equipment, or constructing launch facilities.

Reported figures say SpaceX spent about $20.7 billion on capex in 2025. That was up from roughly $11.2 billion in 2024 and about $4.4 billion in 2023, which is close to a sevenfold increase year over year.

Revenue also rose during this period. The most widely reported number puts 2025 revenue at about $18.7 billion, up around 33%.

The spending was not just about SpaceX’s satellite internet business. Reuters reported that about $12.7 billion of 2025 capex went to AI infrastructure, meaning the buildings and computers needed to run and train AI (think of it like building a very large power hungry server warehouse). SpaceX also spent heavily on Starship and the launch sites and equipment needed to support it.

SpaceX was still profitable in 2024, but it swung to a loss of about $4.9 billion in 2025, despite higher revenue. In plain terms, sales went up, but spending went up much faster.

Why it matters

This shows how expensive it can be to expand into AI computing and new rocket systems at the same time. For people watching SpaceX, the key question is whether today’s heavy spending will lead to stronger results later.

Source: NYTimes