Microsoft in Talks with SpaceX for Major AI Compute Lease
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) may soon join the ranks of SpaceX's major AI customers. According to a report by The Information, the tech giant held discussions with SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) over the summer about leasing computing capacity. While the current status of these talks is uncertain, Microsoft declined to comment on the matter.
Bernstein analyst Douglas Harned predicts a significant surge in SpaceX's AI revenue, projecting it to grow from $24.6 billion in 2026 to $115.1 billion in 2027. To achieve this, SpaceX would need to add over $90 billion in AI revenue within a year. The company already has key clients like Anthropic and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), with Anthropic paying approximately $1.25 billion per month and Google agreeing to pay about $920 million monthly. An unidentified third customer is expected to start payments of around $1.11 billion per month in December, potentially generating over $39 billion annually once all agreements are active.
Microsoft has been actively seeking more AI capacity as demand continues to outpace supply. CFO Amy Hood noted in July that demand still exceeds available capacity, despite plans for around $175 billion in capital spending this year. SpaceX is expanding its compute capacity, aiming to increase it from over 2 gigawatts in 2026 to between 5 GW and 10 GW next year. CEO Elon Musk stated in August, "We’re building AI compute capacity at scale faster than anyone else, we believe." Additionally, SpaceX plans to bring about 420,000 more Nvidia GPUs online in November.
Bernstein’s long-term outlook for SpaceX includes potentially moving some of this computing power into orbit. However, Polymarket traders remain skeptical, assigning only a 24% chance that a data center with at least 100 data-center-grade AI accelerators will reach orbit by the end of 2027. SpaceX shares rose about 4% on Monday, reaching around $165, following a 7.4% gain on Friday after the company completed three launches in less than 13 hours.