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SpaceX, the space company led by Elon Musk, posted revenue above market expectations in its first earnings release since going public, but shares fell sharply in after-hours trading amid heavy capital spending tied to expanding AI investment.

According to CNBC on the 5th (local time), SpaceX reported second-quarter revenue of $7.81 billion, surpassing the market forecast of $6.93 billion.

Revenue grew 92% year-on-year, while net loss narrowed from $1 billion last year to $541 million. However, investor sentiment weakened amid a surge in capital spending driven by expanded AI infrastructure investment. Shares fell about 7% in after-hours trading following the earnings release.

By segment, the connectivity business — centered on Starlink — drove results. Connectivity revenue came in at $4.29 billion, beating market expectations, with operating income of $1.66 billion, making it the company's only profitable segment. In contrast, the Space segment posted an operating loss of $542 million, and the AI segment posted an operating loss of $1.26 billion.

AI investment continued to expand. Second-quarter capital expenditures reached $18.37 billion, more than six times higher than a year earlier, with $15.83 billion of that going toward AI-related investment — well above the market forecast of $13.22 billion.

CEO Musk said on the earnings call that SpaceX would build its AI data centers exclusively using Nvidia's "Vera Rubin" chips, calling Nvidia's products the best AI computers and saying the two companies plan to expand their collaboration.

SpaceX is also pursuing a satellite-based AI data center project with Nvidia. The two companies plan to jointly design the "Starmind AI1" satellite compute payload, with each satellite set to carry Nvidia GPUs and CPUs. However, the feasibility of space-based data centers remains unverified, and some have raised environmental concerns, including the growing problem of space debris.

Starlink's business also continued to grow. Subscribers reached 12 million, doubling from a year earlier and up 17% from the previous quarter. Average revenue per user (ARPU) was $66, unchanged from the prior quarter but down from $85 in the same period last year.

SpaceX said its cash and cash equivalents grew to $93.5 billion, boosted by funds raised through its IPO, and that it is targeting $100 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by the end of the year.

                                                                                                           Jeong A-reum