SpaceX Q3 2026 Earnings: Revenue Jumps 161% to $14.58 Billion as Capital Spending Guidance Doubles

SpaceX shares rose about 8% in extended trading on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, after the company reported third-quarter revenue of $14.58 billion, up 161% from a year earlier and well above the $12.72 billion analysts expected. Adjusted EBITDA, a measure of operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, came in at $8.8 billion, up from $2.2 billion.

It was SpaceX's second quarterly report since its June listing on Nasdaq. Most of the growth came from the Super Intelligence segment, which is the former xAI, and from Starlink. On the call, management guided fourth-quarter capital spending to $35 billion to $40 billion, about double the third quarter.

Where the revenue came from

SpaceX bought xAI in an all-stock deal that closed on February 2, 2026, so its AI business now reports as the Super Intelligence segment. That segment brought in $7.56 billion, up 195% from the second quarter, and earned a segment profit of $431 million. The company said the growth came mainly from new cloud services agreements and its acquisition of Cursor. Starlink, reported as Connectivity, brought in about $5.25 billion, up 69% from a year earlier, according to Quartz.

How much of the profit came from operations

Net income of $4.4 billion was larger than the $2.8 billion of operating income. The difference came from about $1.0 billion of other income and a $390 million tax benefit, according to the 8-K filing. Adjusted EBITDA also leaves out depreciation, the cost of equipment wearing out over time, which grows as SpaceX adds data centers.

Capital spending is about to double

SpaceX spent $19.59 billion on capital projects in the third quarter, $16.44 billion of it in the Super Intelligence segment. Management guided fourth-quarter spending to $35 billion to $40 billion for its Memphis and Southaven compute sites. Elon Musk said he would be surprised if SpaceX brought on less than 13 gigawatts of computing capacity by the end of next year.

Starship, chips and a possible Tesla deal

Musk said SpaceX now plans weekly Starship flights in the first half of 2027. He said SpaceX aims to produce its first working test chip at its Austin research fab around May or June 2027, with volume production targeted for 2028. Musk also called a combination of SpaceX and Tesla a good idea. Both companies have formed special board committees to look at it, Bloomberg reported, and Musk said a deal would need shareholder approval.

How the stock traded

The results reached the MoveSurge news feed at 16:02:47 ET. Our own one-minute prices for SpaceX's after-hours session are unavailable, so the move above comes from CNBC, which reported a gain of about 8% in extended trading. SpaceX priced its initial public offering at $135 a share and began trading on Nasdaq on June 12, 2026. Its first quarterly report as a public company came on August 4.