SpaceX is targeting 13 GW of AI computing capacity by the end of 2027, about 10 GW above an earlier expectation of 2.5–3 GW for that date, according to a UBS report described by ANI on 23 October 2026. Management unveiled the expansion plan during the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Zhitong Finance reported. The target would expand the capacity SpaceX can use itself or lease to customers.
Key points
- UBS estimates SpaceX would need to spend around $350 billion to reach its 13 GW capacity target.
- SpaceX guided for $35 billion to $40 billion in fourth-quarter capital expenditure, against $19.6 billion in the third quarter.
- Super Intelligence revenue reached $7.6 billion in the third quarter, up from $2.6 billion in the preceding quarter.
- JPMorgan raised its SpaceX price target to $500 from $240.
SpaceX’s AI revenue reaches $7.6 billion
SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.575 billion, up roughly 161% from a year earlier and about 87% from the preceding quarter. Analysts had expected approximately $12.8 billion. Revenue at its Super Intelligence segment, which includes AI cloud services and infrastructure, rose to $7.6 billion from $2.6 billion in the previous quarter, against market expectations of roughly $6.4 billion to $6.5 billion.
UBS put the segment’s third-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation at $5 billion, up from $1.1 billion in the preceding quarter. Its profit margin rose to 66% from 45%. Those results provide an operating base for the expansion plan, while SpaceX’s spending guidance covers a much larger near-term outlay.
Cloud-computing leases chiefly drove the AI business’s growth, including revenue from Anthropic-related projects and Google Cloud, Zhitong Finance reported. Morgan Stanley estimated that Cursor, an AI programming company acquired by SpaceX, contributed approximately $608 million during its first incomplete quarter of consolidation.
UBS estimates $350 billion for 13 GW
SpaceX guided for capital expenditure of $35 billion to $40 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $19.6 billion in the third. UBS estimates that reaching 13 GW would require around $350 billion in spending. Separately, the bank projects roughly $361.9 billion of SpaceX capital expenditure in 2027.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive, suggested the company could reach as much as 20 GW of computing capacity in 2027 if power generation is available, UBS said in the account carried by ANI. He also indicated that demand could absorb the company’s capacity several times over and expected higher spot rental prices to bring the payback period on investments to around six months next year.
On an assumed roughly equal division between capacity kept for SpaceX’s own use and capacity leased to customers, UBS said the infrastructure could support annual recurring revenue of $500 billion to $1 trillion by the end of 2027, versus an expected $100 billion at the end of 2026. Morgan Stanley characterised that longer-term figure as Musk’s vision rather than formal guidance, Zhitong Finance reported, and tied its realisation to the pace of construction, pricing and AI product sales.
JPMorgan expects SpaceX’s 2027 capital expenditure to reach approximately $300 billion. Morgan Stanley raised its forecast for that year to about $278 billion from $161 billion. JPMorgan said SpaceX plans to fund the expansion with debt and operating cash flow rather than a new share issue. The bank identified power supply, construction, financing and customer demand as requirements for executing the plan.
JPMorgan lifts SpaceX target to $500
JPMorgan raised its SpaceX price target to $500 from $240 after the results. Morgan Stanley kept its target at $300, while UBS raised its target to $230 from $210. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley maintained Overweight ratings, and UBS retained a Buy rating.
The capacity plan follows an earlier SpaceX Grok network announcement in which the company said more than 130 businesses had joined early access. In a separate industry projection, UBS put tech giants’ AI infrastructure spending above $1 trillion in 2027.
SpaceX currently deploys approximately 200,000 Nvidia GB300 chips each month. SpaceX plans to shift to the Vera Rubin platform in 2027 and deploy around 440,000 Vera Rubin GPUs by the end of the second quarter of that year for a cluster dedicated to Grok training.
