New Delhi, October 21 (IANS). Elon Musk-backed SpaceX has recorded a stellar performance by releasing its third quarter (Q3) results. The company's revenue grew 161 percent year-on-year to $14.58 billion due to strong growth in its Artificial Intelligence (AI) business and increasing demand for data center capacity.
The company's shares jumped more than 8 percent in after-hours trading following the results.
The company's AI unit, now operating under the 'Super Intelligence' brand, generated revenue of $7.56 billion during the quarter. This is almost 10 times more than a year ago.
The business has emerged as a leading service provider of compute infrastructure and data center capacity to companies such as Anthropic, Alphabet's Google and Reflection AI.
The company's capital expenditure (capex) has also increased rapidly. That nearly tripled from a year earlier, to $19.6 billion, as the company expands its computing capacity.
Chief Financial Officer Brett Johnson said capital spending in the fourth quarter is expected to be between $35 billion and $40 billion.
He also said the company expects revenue between $33 billion and $37 billion in the first quarter of 2027, significantly above analysts' average estimate of $22.2 billion. The reason for this is the strengthening pipeline of compute contracts.
The company recorded a net profit of $4.4 billion in this quarter, whereas it had suffered a loss of about $1.1 billion in the same period a year ago.
AI business has also become profitable now. XAI made a net profit of $431 million in the quarter, compared to a loss of $1.7 billion in the same period last year.
SpaceX's connectivity business also contributed significantly to the performance. The segment's revenue, including Starlink, grew 69 percent year-on-year to $5.25 billion.
At the same time, the number of Starlink customers also increased to 1.36 crore, which was 1.20 crore a year ago. This indicates the ever-increasing demand for satellite internet service.
During the earnings call, Elon Musk said that a merger between SpaceX and electric vehicle maker Tesla could be a good idea. He confirmed that special committees have been formed in both the companies to evaluate the proposal.
Musk also said that the company's annual recurring revenue could reach between $500 billion and $1 trillion in the future due to the increasing demand for AI infrastructure.
“It may sound incredible, but SpaceX's $1 trillion revenue by 2028 no longer seems impossible,” he wrote on social media platform X.
SpaceX shares closed at $147.79 in regular trading on Tuesday. After the results, it registered a rise of more than 8 percent. The impact of this boom in after-hours trading was also seen on the Nasdaq futures market, which reflects the company's increasing importance in the technology index.
–IANS
DBP