Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX)

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. reported revenue of $14.6 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, up 161 percent from a year earlier, and net income of $4.4 billion 2.

Most of the growth came from SI, short for Super Intelligence, the segment once called AI, which sells computing power, the Grok chatbot, the Cursor coding tool and X advertising 12.

SI brought in $7.6 billion, 52 percent of the total (computed) 2.

The 10-Q says the board has formed a special committee to evaluate a possible combination with Tesla, Inc., and that Tesla's board has formed one too 1. No determination has been made 1.

On October 24, 2026 the company entered into a binding commitment letter for a master finance lease with an entity managed by Apollo Global Management for GPU pods, the chips that train AI models 4. The company expects principal payments under the lease to total approximately $40 billion 4.

Starship reached orbit for the first time on September 28 and released 26 Starlink satellites, but the ship was brought down after about three hours, not the planned nine or ten 910.

The company was founded and incorporated on March 14, 2002 as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., a Delaware corporation 3. With the first successful launch of its Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, it became the first private company to put a liquid-fueled rocket into orbit 3. Falcon 9 first launched in 2010 3.

In 2012 a Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station 3. In December 2015 the company landed a rocket that had flown to space, and by 2017 it was routinely recovering and reusing Falcon 9 first stages 3. The company says reusing boosters delivered another step-function drop in the cost of reaching space 3.

Crew flights followed: Dragon has flown 78 crewmembers from 20 countries since 2020 3. The company began deploying a large broadband satellite constellation in 2019 and activated Starlink service for customers in 2020 3.

Most of the 2025 growth came from Starlink 3. In 2025 revenue was $18,674 million, up 33.2 percent from $14,015 million in 2024, as presented in the prospectus after xAI was added to the history 3. Connectivity added $3,788 million as subscribers grew, Space added $290 million and the AI segment added $581 million 3.

The AI segment came from two mergers 3. The prospectus says xAI, founded in 2023, acquired X Holdings on March 28, 2025, and SpaceX acquired X.AI Holdings on February 2, 2026 3. Because both were under common control, the prospectus restates earlier years to include them 3.

That addition turned a small profit into a loss 3. Operating income went from $466 million in 2024 to a loss of $2,589 million in 2025, and net income from $791 million to a loss of $4,937 million, the prospectus table shows 3.

In September 2025 the company agreed to buy EchoStar's mobile airwaves, a deal of about $19.6 billion in shares and debt payoff that the Federal Communications Commission approved on May 12, 2026 1. In May 2026 it signed cloud agreements giving Anthropic access to compute at $1.25 billion a month through May 2029 3.

The company went public in June 2026, when its registration statement was declared effective on June 11, and it sold $25 billion of senior notes later that month 17. Financing brought in $99,819 million in the first nine months of 2026, mainly from IPO proceeds and the notes 1.

Revenue then jumped 2. Quarterly revenue was $4,694 million in the first quarter and $7,814 million in the second, then $14,575 million in the third, as SI infrastructure contracts started and Cursor joined on August 14 3251.

Space: Falcon, Dragon and Starship

The Space segment launches satellites and astronauts 3. It earned $1,767 million of revenue in the third quarter, up 6.1 percent, and lost $7 million from operations 1. Launch Services, point-in-time launches, were 64.0 percent of it 1.

Falcon 9 first flew in 2010 and Falcon Heavy, with three boosters, first flew in 2018; Dragon carries cargo and crews to the International Space Station 3. In the third quarter the company flew 33 Falcon launches, 12 of them for customers, and two Starship launches 1.

Starship is the next-generation, fully reusable rocket 3. The prospectus says its third version is designed to deliver 100 metric tons to orbit, and Space.com reported it stands 407 feet (124 meters) tall 39.

Customers include NASA, which picked Starship to land astronauts on the Moon, and the company said it signed 18 National Security Space Launch missions and three more NASA crew missions 92. Its largest customer supplied 20.9 percent of 2025 revenue 3.

Connectivity: Starlink

Starlink sells internet service from satellites to homes, businesses, aircraft, ships and governments, and it also offers a phone service from separate satellites 3. The 10-Q counts over 11,100 Starlink satellites in orbit and customers across 174 countries, territories and other markets 1.

Starlink consumer subscribers reached 13.6 million at September 30, 2026, from 7.2 million a year earlier, while average monthly revenue per subscriber fell to $69 from $83 as cheaper plans and new countries were added 1.

Connectivity revenue was $5,248 million in the quarter, up 69.5 percent, with operating income of $2,367 million 1. Over 3,800 aircraft carry Starlink 2.

SI: Grok, Cursor, X and the compute

SI runs the Grok chatbot, the Cursor coding tool, the X social network and the data centers behind them 1. Its revenue was $7,560 million in the quarter against $813 million a year earlier, and it earned $431 million from operations 1.

The company reports 1.7 gigawatts of installed computing power at September 30, 2026, up from 0.6 a year earlier 1. Cursor added $608 million of revenue after the August 14 merger, which the company priced at $42.5 billion of purchase consideration 1.

Plants, sites and people

Starship is developed, built and launched at Starbase, Texas, rocket engines are tested at McGregor, Texas, and Falcon stages and Dragon capsules are built at Hawthorne, California 3. Satellites are made at Redmond, Washington, and Starlink kits in Bastrop, Texas 3.

The Memphis, Tennessee and Southaven, Mississippi data centers train Grok 3. The company employed over 22,000 full-time employees worldwide on March 31, 2026 3.

Elon Musk is chief executive, chief technical officer and chairman, and Gwynne Shotwell is president and chief operating officer 3. Bret Johnsen is chief financial officer, and Roelof Botha joined the board on June 16, 2026 312.

Rivals

In launch the prospectus names United Launch Alliance, Arianespace, Blue Origin and Rocket Lab 3. In broadband it names cable and phone companies plus Amazon LEO, Eutelsat OneWeb and Telesat, and in AI it names OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and Microsoft 3.

Problems and lawsuits

Several lawsuits target the Grok image tools; on September 28, 2026 a court in Northern California refused to move one case to Texas 1. The Virginia attorney general sent a notice of violation on October 19, 2026 1.

In December 2025 the European Commission fined X and related parties EUR 120 million under the Digital Services Act, and the case is pending 1. A Mississippi agency seeks up to $25,000 a day for stormwater permit violations 1.

The umbrella, in words

The company is organized in three segments: Space, Connectivity and SI 1. Filings name X Corp., which runs X; SpaceXAI, which builds Grok; Cursor, agreed on June 16 and closed August 14; and Mesh Optical, bought July 6 for $249 million 156.

Stakes and ties: the company holds an equity interest in TBC, in which its chief executive has a controlling voting interest 1. In the nine months ended September 30, 2026 it bought $480 million of Megapack batteries from Tesla 1. Valor Equity Partners, whose founder Antonio Gracias is a director, leases it equipment carried as $12,897 million of debt (computed) 1.

Control: Class B shares carry ten votes each and Class A shares one, and Class B holders elect a majority of the board 3. The prospectus said Musk would hold about 82.4 percent of the voting power after the offering, making the company a controlled company under Nasdaq rules 3.

Land and sites: the company operates launch sites at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Space Force Base, and its headquarters is at 1 Rocket Road, Starbase, Texas 3. Before the offering Musk held 93.6 percent of Class B shares and Gracias, through Valor funds, 7.3 percent of Class A, the prospectus table shows 3.

Starship is central to the plan 3. The prospectus says the company's growth strategy is highly dependent on Starship, and the company expects a single Starship to deploy up to 60 V3 satellites at once 3.

In its prospectus the company said it expects to begin deploying orbital AI compute satellites as early as 2028 3. The release says the first launch from a new Starbase in Louisiana is targeted for 2029 2.

TechCrunch reported that the company plans to invest $100 billion in the Louisiana site, with construction starting next year 10. The prospectus says the Starship pad at Launch Complex 39A is expected by the end of 2026 and four Starship pads by the end of 2027 3.

On October 8, 2026 the company agreed to buy a nationwide license portfolio of up to 14 megahertz of 800 MHz airwaves, expected to close in the first half of 2027 2. The company's payment schedule for the EchoStar airwaves assumes a closing on November 30, 2027 1.

The Apollo lease is expected to close before year end, with lease schedules starting in the first half of 2027 as GPUs are delivered 4. Payments to the trust behind the EchoStar airwaves deal are expected to total $1,241 million in 2026 1.

Shareholder proposals for the 2027 annual meeting must reach the corporate secretary by December 29, 2026 1. The company says there is a reasonable possibility it may release a significant part of its tax valuation allowance, which would book a material income tax benefit 1.

The special committee on a possible Tesla combination has made no determination, and any deal would need further approval from the committee, the board and the controlling shareholder, the 10-Q says 1.

Past

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s filings since 2017 show no warning events: no bankruptcy or receivership notice, no debt default notice, no exchange listing notice, no restatement warning, no auditor change, no material cyber incident and no late-report notice. The company's track record cannot be read from filed figures because fewer than three filed years of revenue are on file, so the desk assumes the typical reading of its industry family. Shareholder treatment cannot be read because fewer than two of the required parts can be read, so the desk assumes the typical reading of its industry family. 1

Present

A quarterly report for the period ended 2026-06-30 was filed on 2026-08-04. Financial health cannot be read because no balance sheet is on file, so the desk assumes the typical reading of its industry family. Industry position cannot be read because no filed revenue is on file, so the desk assumes the typical reading of its industry family. 21

Elon Musk holds the title of CEO, CTO and Chairman. Gwynne Shotwell is President and COO. Bret W Johnsen is Chief Financial Officer. The record of the people in charge begins on 2026-06-11, so a floor of four months is shown and the record cannot see past it. 31

Future

A quarterly report (Form 10-Q) for the quarter ending 2026-09-30 is due by 2026-11-14. An annual report (Form 10-K) for the fiscal year ending 2026-12-31 is due by 2027-03-31. Room to expand cannot be read because the record does not carry two of the four required parts, so the desk assumes the typical reading of its industry family. Growth drivers cannot be read because the record does not carry three filed years of revenue and two of the four required parts, so the desk assumes the typical reading of its industry family. Expectations vs reality cannot be read because the record does not carry four filed years of revenue and two of the three required parts, so the desk assumes the typical reading of its industry family. 21

How the company operates

The record does not say.

New moves

On 2026-10-20, a Form 8-K was filed with results released. On 2026-08-14, a purchase or sale of a business closed and shares were sold without registration. On 2026-06-16, a major agreement was signed and shares were sold without registration. On 2026-06-15, shares were sold without registration, a change to shareholders' rights was made, and an officer or director change occurred. 2

On 2026-09-29, SpaceX's Starship reached orbit and released 26 V3 Starlinks; the company's June prospectus had put the first V3 deployments on Starship in the second half of 2026 and called its growth strategy "highly dependent on Starship". 4