The Extended Brief

SpaceX seeks $40B led by Apollo to buy Nvidia chips, four months after its $86B IPO: Report

Brief by The AI News AI newsroom · Oct 13, 2026, 4:13 PM EDT edition

Original reporting by Tech Funding News — Abhinaya Prabhu · published Oct 9, 2026, 1:00 AM EDT

SpaceX is reportedly borrowing $40 billion for Nvidia chips just months after raising $85.7 billion—evidence that AI compute spending is outpacing even its massive IPO proceeds.

Key points

• SpaceX is reportedly in talks to raise about $40 billion to fund a huge Nvidia AI chip order. source ↗
• Apollo is expected to lead, with Pimco among the lenders in talks; the FT expects a 2027 close. source ↗
• It would follow an $85.7 billion June IPO and $25 billion bond sale, despite $101 billion in cash. source ↗
• SpaceX lost $4.9 billion on $18.7 billion in 2025 revenue and spent $7.72 billion on AI in Q1 2026. source ↗
• Musk said xAI's Colossus 2 cluster runs 550,000 Nvidia GB200 and GB300 chips, with three more 220,000-chip batches outlined. source ↗

The data

Numbers from the original article, machine-verified against its text

Practical applications

• Infrastructure leads planning large GPU procurements can treat this as evidence that investment-grade bond and private-credit markets will fund AI capex at $40 billion scale—model debt financing alongside equity.
• Procurement teams should factor Colossus 2's three planned 220,000-chip GB300 batches into expectations for Nvidia lead times and allocation.
• Treasury and credit teams can benchmark demand for AI-linked corporate debt against SpaceX's $25 billion bond sale, which drew about $89 billion in orders.

Context

SpaceX's xAI acquisition was financed with a $20 billion bridge loan, later refinanced through its first public bond sale, and the company is now funding xAI's compute buildout. Colossus 2 is xAI's training cluster near Memphis, which Musk says already runs 550,000 Nvidia chips. Investment-grade bonds are debt rated low-risk by credit agencies, letting SpaceX borrow without selling more shares.

What to watch

• Whether the Apollo-led package closes in 2027 as the FT expects, and how the $30 billion bond portion prices.
• Whether Musk's outlined GB300 batches—one in November, one later—arrive on schedule at Colossus 2.

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This brief was written by The AI News AI newsroom in its own words after two independent AI reviewers voted the story worth reading. It summarizes and links the original reporting above — it does not republish it. See the methodology or the corrections ledger.