SpaceX shares tanked nearly 10% Wednesday after it revealed a massive jump in spending on AI investments – adding to Wall Street jitters over a possible “AI bubble” in the market.
In its first earnings report as a public company Tuesday, Elon Musk’s rocket-launch firm said its capital expenditures jumped sixfold in the second quarter to $18.4 billion, with the majority going toward AI infrastructure.
The stock fell to roughly $113.27 Wednesday morning – below its $135 IPO price and its roughly $200 all-time high that was hit shortly after its record-breaking market debut in June, which raised $86 billion.
SpaceX also disclosed a 92% surge in revenue and a smaller-than-expected loss of $541 million in the second quarter – but investors were more concerned about its massive spending plans.
Tech and chip stocks, particularly those with the most exposure to AI, have suffered choppy trading sessions for months as traders panic that massive spending might not see commensurate returns, potentially recreating the “dot-com bubble” of the early 2000s.
Since its IPO, SpaceX’s stock has plummeted more than 20%, wiping out roughly $500 billion in value.
During an earnings call Tuesday, SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen tried to reassure investors, saying the company has been “efficient” with its spending.
“On the AI compute side, we’re able to deploy capital in such a way that we’re getting less than a one-year payback,” Johnsen said.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude models are the top contenders in the AI sphere, but SpaceX has attempted to carve out its own niche by renting out the computing capacity it is building with Nvidia chips.
Other tech giants, like Meta, have also floated the idea of renting out their compute as a way to generate revenue in the near-term.
After its earnings report, SpaceX – which has touted grand ambitions like building data centers in space and colonizing Mars – also served up an optimistic forecast as Musk said the company would hit $1 trillion in annual revenue in 2030, sooner than a previous forecast of 2031.
But the company is expected to suffer more volatility this week as millions of SpaceX shares will become eligible for sale on Thursday.
Insider lock-ups on roughly 911.5 million shares held by employees and early investors will expire Thursday, potentially resulting in a wave of share sales.
SpaceX opted for a staggered expiration of lock-ups, so more restrictions will be lifted in the coming months.
By December, an additional 40% of the company could be tradable, while the remaining 60% – including Musk’s stake – will face restrictions until the middle of 2027.