SpaceX stock falls 12% as AI spending surge rattles investors and massive share unlock looms
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- SpaceX shares sank 12% on Wednesday after its first earnings report as a public company showed capital expenditures jumping sixfold to $18.4 billion in Q2, with most spending going toward AI; the stock closed at just over $125, below its $135 IPO price and far off its $200+ all-time high hit shortly after trading began June 12.
- CFO Bret Johnsen told investors the company has been "efficient" with spending, claiming less than a year payback on AI compute capital deployment.
- Elon Musk said SpaceX would hit $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, a year earlier than the previously forecast 2031 target.
- SpaceX is positioning itself as an alternative cloud player by renting out computing capacity built with Nvidia chips, though its own AI models are seen as behind OpenAI and Anthropic.
- Insider lockups expire on Thursday, allowing insiders to sell a portion of their shares — another potential market-moving event for the stock.
- Steve Westly, founder of The Westly Group and a former Tesla board member, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" investors still question how quickly SpaceX can grow and how large costs will get before profitability.
Why it matters: SpaceX trades at just over $125, below its $135 IPO price, and investors are now weighing whether its $18.4 billion AI infrastructure bet — with CFO Johnsen claiming under-one-year paybacks — can justify the spending before Thursday's insider lockup expiration adds another wave of potential selling pressure.
