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Curated Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX – Free Report) by 99.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,651 shares of the company’s stock after selling 405,952 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in SpaceX were worth $249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SC US Ttgp LTD. purchased a new stake in SpaceX in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $20,933,621,000. Darsana Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of SpaceX during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $17,335,783,000. K5 Global Advisor LLC purchased a new position in shares of SpaceX during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,587,531,000. State Street Corp acquired a new position in shares of SpaceX in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,858,329,000. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of SpaceX in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,366,880,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SPCX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of SpaceX from $215.00 to $212.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of SpaceX in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on shares of SpaceX in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $246.00 price objective for the company. CLSA started coverage on shares of SpaceX in a research report on Monday, September 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of SpaceX in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.34.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on SpaceX Key Stories Impacting SpaceX Here are the key news stories impacting SpaceX this week:

Positive Sentiment: Prediction-market odds of a Tesla-SpaceX combination before March 2027 rose above 50%, reaching roughly 55%-56% after Tesla unveiled a Roadster using SpaceX thruster technology. Analysts including Dan Ives argue the demonstration supports the idea of a shared engineering and artificial-intelligence platform. Prediction market odds on Tesla-SpaceX merger are above 50% for early 2027 Positive Sentiment: Evercore raised its SpaceX target, citing progress toward major commercial “proof points” and more than $100 billion in potential revenue. Investors are also focused on third-quarter results due October 20, including Starlink growth, launch cadence and investment needs. SpaceX Q3 Earnings Countdown Positive Sentiment: SpaceX continues expanding Starlink’s commercial opportunity, including airline deployments at United Airlines and a planned mobile-network push beginning in rural America. Its reported spectrum strategy could broaden the addressable market beyond satellite broadband. SpaceX Expands Footprint With United Airlines Neutral Sentiment: SpaceX and Nvidia are reportedly collaborating on AI data centers in space, with initial satellite launches targeted for 2027. The project could create a new growth avenue, but it remains an early-stage initiative. SpaceX and Nvidia Team Up on AI Data Centers in Space Negative Sentiment: Reports that Ukraine’s military Starlink/Starshield access was restricted disrupted drone operations and renewed concerns about SpaceX’s geopolitical exposure and customer reliability. Service reportedly resumed, while President Trump denied ordering the restrictions, leaving responsibility unclear. Trump says White House didn’t order Starlink restrictions in Ukraine Negative Sentiment: Analysts caution that SpaceX’s spectrum deal still leaves it far smaller than established telecom giants, while upcoming insider share unlocks may add selling pressure. The company also faces scrutiny from a New York City Council AI-safety investigation. SpaceX Stock Performance Shares of SPCX opened at $146.03 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,622.56. SpaceX has a 12 month low of $104.83 and a 12 month high of $225.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 4.99 and a current ratio of 5.12.

SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.81 billion for the quarter. SpaceX’s quarterly revenue was up 91.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that SpaceX will post 0.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling In other SpaceX news, COO Gwynne Shotwell sold 342,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total transaction of $52,547,046.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 2,472,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,630,414.95. This represents a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

SpaceX Company Profile (Free Report)

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly known as SpaceX, is a privately held aerospace company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. The company develops and operates launch vehicles and spacecraft designed to reduce the cost of access to space and support commercial, government and scientific missions.

SpaceX’s principal products and services include the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, the Dragon spacecraft and the Starlink satellite communications network. Falcon rockets are used to launch satellites, cargo and crew, while Dragon spacecraft support transportation to and from low Earth orbit.

Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than SpaceX These 3 Green Stocks Have a Growth Story That Goes Far Beyond Washington Meta Claims Frontier-Class AI Status With New Muse Wonder Models Berkshire Just Backed This Little-Known Stock—Should You Chase It? Broadcom’s CEO Sees Years of AI Demand But Warns of a Bigger Threat to the Boom Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SPCX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX – Free Report).

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SpaceX boss Elon Musk said Monday that he'll give every child in the U.S. one of his shares in the company next year.

Musk currently owns about 4.8 billion SpaceX shares, according to an August SEC filing. That figure rises to 6.4 billion when taking into account unvested awards and stock options, representing a 48.4% beneficial stake in the company.

There were 72 million children under 18 in the U.S. as of July 1, 2025, according to official census data.

That would amount to the CEO giving away about $10.5 billion worth of shares, taking into account SpaceX's closing stock price of $146.03 as of Friday.

"This will be the first of many," Musk said in a post on X, without providing further details on how the share giveaway would happen.

CNBC has reached out to SpaceX for further comment.

Musk's comments come hot on the heels of Anthropic revealing that it plans to commit 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund, with the stake potentially increasing as the company's valuation grows.

In response to an Anthropic post on X about the fund on Sunday, Musk replied, "I recommend giving the shares directly to the public," and added that's what he'd be doing.

Subject to shareholder approval, Anthropic's fund would immediately commit 5% of Anthropic's shares, with the board adding, at its discretion, an additional 2% for every 50% increase in the company's value above a set baseline that has yet to be disclosed.

The fund may be used to "explore large donations," including to traditional nonprofits or as direct distributions for specific populations, or for "bolder approaches" to study and address AI's disruption and displacement of jobs, the company said.

— CNBC's Jennifer Liu helped contribute to this report.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk said early Monday that he will provide one of his own SpaceX shares to every child in the U.S. This follows an announcement by Anthropic to set aside 5% of its shares for a fund dedicated to supporting public interest initiatives.

‘First of Many’ Such Moves?In a post on the social media platform X, Musk announced that he will give one of his own SpaceX shares “to every kid in America” next year. “This will be the first of many,” Musk said in the post.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as of June 30, following SpaceX’s IPO, which followed a dual-class share structure, Musk disclosed that he held a 48.4% stake in SpaceX, with his stake comprising 849,494,440 shares of Class A Common Stock where Musk is a trustee, as well as 3,916,980,790 shares of Class B Common Stock.

In addition, Musk also holds 1,302,072,285 shares of restricted Class B Common Stock and 350,000,000 shares of Class B Common Stock that would become issuable upon exercising stock options. Musk did not clarify what shares he would be providing to the children. Musk also holds roughly 85% voting power in the company.

Trump Touts Treasury’s Automatic Investment AccountsThe news comes as President Donald Trump hailed the expansion of the “Trump accounts,” which are tax-advantaged accounts for U.S. citizens under the age of 18. A tax-advantaged account, like a 401(k), is a certain type of account that offers tax-deductible contributions and tax deferrals, or tax-free withdrawals.

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Trump said that the Treasury Department had automatically created these accounts for more than 60 million children. The move has brought the nationwide total to nearly 70 million accounts.

The accounts have seen contributions from Dell Technologies Inc.‘s (NYSE:DELL) Michael and Susan Dell, contributing $250 to 25 million children.

In July, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband also pledged one share of SpaceX stock to Trump Accounts for more than two million American children, a gift valued at about $325 million at the time.

Price Action: SPCX shares rose 0.93% to $147.39 during pre-market trading on Monday.

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Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Elon Musk's SpaceX faces an earnings test on Tuesday that could determine whether investors regain confidence in one of Wall Street's battered space technology funds.

The Global X Space Tech ETF (ORBX) held 25.44% of its assets in SpaceX as of 16 October, giving the rocket and satellite company an outsized influence over its performance.

Analysts expect surging Starlink and artificial intelligence revenue to help SpaceX return to quarterly profit. But the company's expensive expansion plans and weakness elsewhere in the space sector complicate hopes of a lasting ETF recovery.

Wall Street expects SpaceX to report third-quarter revenue of $12.89 billion, up approximately 65% from a year earlier, according to TipRanks.

Consensus estimates point to earnings of 14 cents a share, against a nine-cent loss in the preceding quarter.

The growth case rests heavily on Starlink and AI. In the second quarter, SpaceX's connectivity revenue rose 66% to $4.29 billion, while AI revenue surged approximately 247% to $2.56 billion.

Starlink's expansion into direct-to-cell connectivity offers another potential revenue stream. The network already includes approximately 650 satellites equipped for the service, with regulatory approval for 15,000 more.

However, The Motley Fool analyst Rich Smith cautioned on 18 October that network expansion does not guarantee equivalent financial gains.

“How much that translates into revenue growth and earnings growth, of course, remains to be seen,” Smith wrote.

Revenue growth tells only part of the story. SpaceX spent $18.4 billion on capital expenditure in the second quarter, including $15.83 billion on AI infrastructure, according to its results filed with the SEC.

The company ended June with substantial cash reserves, but maintaining spending at that pace could still pressure free cash flow and shareholder patience.

Despite $7.8 billion in quarterly revenue, the company reported an operating loss of $143 million.

Its ambitions extend beyond data centres. Starship development, new satellites and an approximately $8 billion wireless spectrum transaction could keep investment requirements elevated.

Financial columnist James Mackintosh highlighted a broader danger facing the AI investment boom.

“An even bigger risk: construction continues at full speed,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

Mackintosh's warning concerned AI infrastructure generally, not SpaceX specifically. But the comparison is relevant, as investment can generate extraordinary supplier revenues without ensuring attractive returns for the companies funding expansion.

Investors will therefore examine cash generation and spending guidance as closely as revenue growth.

Global X's latest holdings show ORBX owned approximately $8.99 million of SpaceX shares, representing 25.44% of its $35.34 million portfolio.

Rocket Lab accounted for 8.75%, while AST SpaceMobile represented 7.66%. Other holdings expose investors to additional satellite and infrastructure businesses.

That concentration makes SpaceX important, but not all-powerful.

Assuming its weight stays unchanged, a hypothetical 10% SpaceX rally would add roughly 2.54 percentage points to ORBX's value if every other holding remained flat, ignoring fees and tracking effects.

Strong results could spark a rebound, but restoring confidence requires more than one earnings beat.

SpaceX must demonstrate that Starlink and AI growth can justify their investment costs, while the ETF's other holdings must also stabilise.

Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -1.74%), otherwise known as SpaceX, was the hottest initial public offering (IPO) of the year, if not the century. However, despite the massive demand for shares at IPO and the initial price jump, SpaceX stock has been a laggard. It trades at $148 today, about 10% higher than the IPO price of $135 and below the first-day opening price of $150. It's down almost 8% since the first-day closing price, when investors who didn't get shares at IPO had the chance to buy shares. However, there are plenty of people who are bullish on this stock. The median Wall Street analyst target price is $217, a 46% increase from today.

Most investors should buy stocks thinking at least a few years out. Here's where SpaceX stock might be in 2030.

Growing fast and coming closer to profits SpaceX's growth rates weren't particularly impressive leading up to its IPO, but they were much higher in the second quarter, SpaceX's first as a public company. Total revenue increased 92% year over year driven by all of its segments, but particularly xAI, its artificial intelligence (AI) business. Here's the breakdown, including profits and losses:

SegmentSales growthProfit/lossSpaceX29% ($542 million)

Starlink66%$1.7 billionxAI247%($1.3 billion) Data source: SpaceX quarterly reports. Growth is year over year.

xAI is both its fastest-growing business and its biggest loser. However, the total loss was cut by nearly half, from $1 billion last year to $541 million this year, boding well for a profit on the horizon.

Management sees its biggest opportunities in AI as well, even though it's the rocket-launching and Starlink businesses that set it apart from other AI companies. xAI operates the Grok AI model, is building data centers, and is beefing up the business with its recent acquisition of Cursor. It also recently announced several major deals for data center rentals with Alphabet, which will pay $920 million monthly, and Anthropic, which will pay $1.25 billion monthly through 2029. Management sees a $26.5 trillion long-term addressable market for AI.

Image source: Getty Images.

If SpaceX continues to grow at current rates, the stock should be much higher in 2030. Wall Street expects sales to increase 156% in 2027, which is an accelerated pace.

If SpaceX grows at a 100% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2030, that might justify its premium valuation of 68 times trailing-12-month sales. If it maintained that ratio, sales would be $662 billion, which is hard to imagine over the next five years. It's likely that the rate is going to slow down, and if it does, the price-to-sales multiple would as well. So let's go through a reasonable scenario. Suppose SpaceX grows at a CAGR of 75% over the next five years. That would bring sales to about $340 billion. Imagine the price-to-sales ratio at about two-thirds what it is now, so let's say about 46. That would mean a market cap of $15 trillion, which seems highly unlikely.

SPCX Space Exploration Technologies$146.03-$2.59 (-1.74%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/16/26

You'd have to imagine that either the CAGR or multiple or both will slow down. Let's imagine a CAGR of 50% and a price-to-sales ratio of 34, or half today's multiple. That would be $157 billion in revenue, and the market cap would be $5.5 trillion, a 177% increase from today's figure. If you'd invest $5,000 today, according to this formula, you'd have $13,850.

These are still optimistic numbers because there are many risks for the business, especially with xAI. There's a real chance that AI spend will slow down, impacting suppliers like xAI, and send SpaceX stock down.

There's certainly a chance the stock does reward investors coming up, as in the above scenario, but I'm not ready to say it's time to buy. This isn't the kind of risk I would want to take with my money, and that's how I'd recommend any investor think about the stock.

Lithuania is treating an attempted arson attack at a SpaceX (SPCX.O) Starlink base station on Sunday as a ​Russia-linked act of sabotage aimed at undermining Ukraine's military capacity, ‌the head of the government's National Crisis Management Centre said.

Lithuanian authorities are searching for suspects who attempted to set fire to a Starlink base station ​on the outskirts of the capital Vilnius at about 2 ​a.m. (2300 GMT on Saturday), said Vilmantas Vitkauskas.

The blaze was ⁠quickly extinguished, causing only minor property damage and no disruption to ​operations, he added.

"We understand that this was not a routine arson ​attack but an act of sabotage," Vitkauskas told reporters in Vilnius.

He said the incident was linked to earlier arson attacks against Starlink stations in Bulgaria and ​Poland.

"They are part of Russian attempts to disrupt Starlink and influence ​the success of Ukrainian operations," he said. "Ukraine is the target."

Ukraine uses Starlink terminals ‌extensively ⁠for battlefield communications and installs Starlink receivers in many of its drones as part of their guidance systems.

The terminals are used to conduct strikes on Russian targets inside Ukraine and help its interceptor drones ​defend against Russian drone ​attacks.

Bulgarian authorities ⁠said fire was set to several Starlink antennas in the country on October 10, according to local ​media reports. And a fire at a Starlink ​facility in ⁠Poland in September damaged its power system and backup generator.

Poland said at the time it believed the fire was an act of sabotage aimed ⁠at ​disrupting internet services, including for Ukraine's military, ​and blamed Russia. Four suspects were detained.

Moscow says such accusations are baseless and the result ​of anti-Russian hysteria.

In the year 2000, U.S. space companies launched a grand total of 28 rockets. From 2001 to 2010, America's space odyssey slowed further, averaging just 18 rocket launches per year.

But then SpaceX happened.

Founded in 2002, Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -1.74%) launched its first Falcon 9 rocket in 2010. It took a few years to work out the kinks, and a few more to turn Falcon 9 into a reusable rocket, but by 2020, SpaceX was cooking. That year saw 44 launches by U.S. companies -- the most launches since the Apollo era.

And according to research from The Motley Fool, more than half of those launches were by SpaceX.

Thanks to SpaceX, the number of U.S. rocket launches has increased every year since. SpaceX alone launched 31 commercial missions in 2021, 57 in 2022, 92 in 2023, 130 in 2024, and 161 in 2025, putting literally thousands of tons of payload in Earth orbit.

All of this would be very impressive, except for one thing -- and that one thing is what SpaceX is planning to do next.

Image source: SpaceX.

Going where no space stock has ever gone before
What SpaceX plans to do next, as we learned from a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) disclosure Tuesday, is to launch its Starship megarocket -- a rocket with multiple times the payload capacity of any other rocket on Earth -- an astounding 456 times in a single year.

We learned this from a "Notice of Intent ... on the Proposed SpaceX Starship-Super Heavy Launch and Landing Operations at the Boca Chica Launch Site at Starbase, Texas and Expansion of Starship Landing and Expenditure Locations." This seven-page document describes a conversation SpaceX has begun with the FAA, outlining plans to dramatically increase Starship's flight cadence.

SpaceX currently has permission to conduct "up to 25 annual launches" of its Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket per year from the company's Boca Chica Launch Site at Starbase, Texas. But that's not enough to support everything SpaceX wants to do in orbit (or beyond).

In a two-phase plan of action, SpaceX describes its goal of launching 100 times per year in Phase 1, before expanding to an eye-popping 456 launches per year. (Recognizing that the reusable Super Heavy and Starship land separately after each launch, the document also covers 200 annual landings in Phase 1, and 912 landings in Phase 2.)

The document does not specify when SpaceX hopes to begin Phase 1, but it states that once Phase 1 begins, Phase 2 will follow "within several years."

What happens next
The "notice of intent" is just the beginning of a conversation between SpaceX and the FAA, and even just Phase 1 of SpaceX's plan probably lies years in the future. Between now and then, environmental impact studies assessing the effects of so many high-energy launches on coastlines, fish and wildlife populations, and human populations will be needed.

There will be studies of effects on "farmlands; hazardous materials, solid waste, and pollution prevention; historical, architectural, archaeological, and cultural resources; land use; natural resources and energy supply." "Noise" studies, "visual" studies, and "socioeconomic" studies, too. Enough studies, one imagines, to keep a small city's worth of environmental and regulatory lawyers fully employed for years.

Even at the end of it all, there's no guarantee the FAA will agree to SpaceX's ambitious plans.

SPCX Space Exploration Technologies$146.03-$2.59 (-1.74%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/16/26

What investors need to know
But what if the FAA does agree?

Four hundred fifty-six Starship launches, each carrying up to 150 tons of payload, have the potential to put upwards of 68,400 tons of payload into orbit annually. That's more than twice the payload that's been put into orbit in the entire history of human spaceflight, from the Oct. 4, 1957, Sputnik launch to today.

And once it gets started, SpaceX would launch this every single year.

If that's not enough to boggle your mind, though, consider this: SpaceX's notice of intent specifically limits itself to requesting permission to conduct this number of launches from Starbase's two launch pads in Boca Chica. Meanwhile in Louisiana, SpaceX has begun a separate project to build a second Starbase with 10 launch pads. Should SpaceX have similar "intentions" for that Starbase as it has for Texas, we could, in the not-too-distant future, see SpaceX launch more than 2,000 rockets per year and put close to 300,000 tons of payload into orbit annually.

That's roughly the equivalent of launching three Ford-class aircraft carriers to orbit per year.

Compared to this goal, the six rockets that ULA launched in 2025, the seven launches by Arianespace, and even the 18 launches by Rocket Lab -- they all dwindle to insignificance next to SpaceX. So long story short?

If the FAA agrees to SpaceX's plan and SpaceX itself can get anywhere near fulfilling it, SpaceX is going to dominate the space industry. Full stop.

Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -1.74%), also known as SpaceX, is famous for its rockets. But those launches explain surprisingly little about how Wall Street values the company. The 35 analysts tracked by TipRanks have 12-month price targets ranging from $75 to $450. The average consensus estimate of $217 is nearly 50% above the stock's price as of this writing.

Image source: Getty Images.

The wide range reflects more than differing expectations for rocket launches. Analysts are assigning very different values to Starlink's future profits, SpaceX's artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions, and the enormous capital required to turn those opportunities into sustainable cash flow.

Rockets contribute surprisingly little direct value
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas has a $300 price target on SpaceX. Yet the investment bank reportedly assigns just $8 per share, or less than 3% of that target, to its external launch business. The investment bank attributes $118 per share to the Starlink-powered connectivity business and $165 per share to the enterprise AI business.

SPCX Space Exploration Technologies$146.03-$2.59 (-1.74%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/16/26

SpaceX's financials help explain why. The company's revenue reached $7.81 billion in the second quarter, but its Space segment contributed just $962 million. In the Space segment, external launch services generated only $648 million, or roughly 8% of total revenue.

The Space segment recorded a $542 million operating loss in Q2. SpaceX has also spent approximately $1.08 billion on research and development in this segment, largely associated with the next-generation rocket launch system Starship.

Much of SpaceX's launch capacity also supports its own businesses. Of the 38 launches completed during Q2, 28 were internal missions, including Starlink deployments and development tests. SpaceX doesn't recognize launch revenue when deploying its own Starlink satellites. Instead, it includes those costs in the value of its satellite assets.

Hence, rocket launchers are not merely products SpaceX sells. They are infrastructure that could reduce the cost of deploying and replacing satellites. If Starship eventually makes launches substantially cheaper, much of the benefit could accrue to Starlink's economics rather than to its rocket revenue.

Hence, rockets may have relatively little stand-alone valuation while remaining essential to SpaceX's biggest growth opportunities.

Starlink earns profits, while AI consumes capital
SpaceX's Connectivity segment generated $4.29 billion in Q2 revenue and $1.66 billion in operating income, representing an impressive operating margin of nearly 39%. Starlink's subscribers doubled year over year to 12 million at the end of Q2. However, average monthly revenue per subscriber fell from $85 to $66 year over year as SpaceX expanded into lower-priced markets.

Despite this decline, Connectivity's operating income was up 79% year over year in Q2, partly driven by the more than doubling of enterprise and government revenues. This suggests that SpaceX can improve the profitability of its connectivity business, even as average subscriber revenue declines.

SpaceX is also focusing on mobile connectivity. The company recently agreed to acquire Grain Management's 800-megahertz spectrum portfolio for a reported $8 billion. This could enable Starlink Mobile to provide connectivity through both satellite and ground-based networks. However, the transaction requires regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Competing with traditional carriers could also involve substantial additional infrastructure spending.

AI presents an even bigger opportunity, but with much greater financial uncertainty. SpaceX's AI revenue surged nearly 247% year over year to $2.56 billion in Q2, driven largely by cloud computing agreements. Yet the segment recorded a $1.26 billion operating loss. While management has reported positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $1.15 billion for the AI business, that figure excludes approximately $1.89 billion in depreciation and amortization. These expenses matter because expensive computing equipment eventually needs replacement. AI also accounted for $15.83 billion, or 86%, of SpaceX's quarterly capital expenditures.

Why analysts disagree so sharply
SpaceX's AI contracts demonstrate strong demand, but not necessarily durable revenue.

One customer accounted for 19.5% of consolidated Q2 revenue, entirely within AI. This accounts for nearly 60% of the AI segment's revenue, highlighting excessive reliance on a single client.

SpaceX's cloud agreements generally allow termination with 90 days' notice after an initial capacity-ramp period. This creates a major risk. Computing equipment may require years of profitable use to recover its costs, while some customer commitments can end much sooner.

Morgan Stanley's original July 2026 model, which established its $300 price target, projected $2.6 trillion in annual AI revenue by 2040. However, the same model also estimated roughly $670 billion in external financing needs between 2027 and 2034. Phillip Securities has set a price target of $75 and expects approximately $90 billion in cumulative negative free cash flow through 2030.

SpaceX's financing needs are already substantial. Reuters reports that the company is seeking $40 billion in debt financing to purchase Nvidia chips. SpaceX has also completed the $60 billion acquisition of Cursor, which involved issuing approximately 391 million shares. This highlights how SpaceX's expansion can also dilute existing shareholders.

The valuation leaves little room for disappointment. SpaceX is trading at nearly 93.7 times trailing revenue (as of Oct. 15, 2026). This premium valuation reflects enormous expectations for future growth and profitability, even as SpaceX continues investing heavily in AI infrastructure.

SpaceX also plans to deploy AI computing infrastructure in orbit, potentially using solar-powered satellites to process data in space. However, this opportunity remains commercially unproven. A U.S. Government Accountability Office report highlights major challenges involving power, cooling, communications, and hardware durability. If SpaceX overcomes these obstacles, orbital computing must still become cost-competitive with data centers on Earth to generate sustainable profits.

SpaceX's rockets are critical to its growth ambitions. However, its multi-trillion-dollar valuation ultimately depends on whether Starlink and AI can generate enough sustainable cash flow to justify their enormous infrastructure investments. Successful launches alone cannot establish that value.

In the months since Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -1.74%) went public -- and even before -- barrels of virtual ink have been spilled describing how SpaceX, which began life as a rocket launch company, is leaning ever more toward becoming an artificial intelligence (AI) behemoth.

Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk predicts that, of the company's $28.5 trillion total addressable market, $26.5 trillion will come from selling AI infrastructure, subscriptions, applications, and advertising. But SpaceX's transformation from a space company into primarily an AI company is just one way that SpaceX is changing.

Last week, we learned of three more.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Fewer rockets, bigger rockets
SpaceX set new record in 2025 by launching 165 orbital missions and conducting five test flights of its Starship megarocket. That was up from 138 total launches in 2024. Curiously, though, that seems to be the high-water mark for SpaceX (at least for now).

In 2026, according to Ars Technica, SpaceX might launch as few as 140 times -- potentially falling below 2024's total. And CNBC reports that SpaceX will slow its launch pace even further in 2027 as it moves forward with plans to slowly retire both the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and its Crew Dragon spacecraft.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that SpaceX expects Starship to take up the slack. With 150 tons of payload to low Earth orbit, each Starship launch will have about six times the payload capacity of a Falcon 9. Meaning, even as SpaceX conducts fewer launches, it should be able to easily put more cargo into orbit with a much bigger rocket.

More satellites, bigger satellites
That's good news for SpaceX investors, and for SpaceX itself -- because as it turns out, Starship is the only launch vehicle big enough to carry full-size Starlink V3 satellites to orbit.

Why is that important?

SpaceX thinks its biggest opportunities lie with AI, but right now, it's the company's Starlink satellite internet service that drives the business. With $13.9 billion in trailing revenue, Starlink -- which SpaceX now calls "Connectivity" -- generated more revenue than the company's Space and AI divisions combined. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Connectivity is also the only one of SpaceX's three businesses that's making money, earning a $5.3 billion operating profit during the past year.

SPCX Space Exploration Technologies$146.03-$2.59 (-1.74%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/16/26

It makes sense that SpaceX would double down on the business that's working best for it -- so SpaceX is building a Starship capable of putting larger, more robust Starlink satellites into orbit. Each Starlink V3 satellite, says the SpaceX CEO, "will add 1 Tbps of capacity to the constellation" -- so 10 times more bandwidth than the V2 satellites they replace.

Starlink V3 constellation starts being deployed this month. Ultimately, it will deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of our current 11,000 satellite constellation.

-- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 15, 2026
SpaceX has big plans for cellphone service
Ultimately, Elon Musk expects V3 to yield a Starlink constellation with 100 times the bandwidth of today.

That additional bandwidth implies 100 times more business for SpaceX -- 100 times more customers paying for 100 times more service. In dollars and cents, this implies "Connectivity" growing from a $13.9-billion-a-year business to one doing nearly $140 billion in annual revenue. But how will SpaceX make use of all this bandwidth and expand its business so much?

Last week, we got a clue.

That $140 billion is about as much revenue as America's biggest telecom, Verizon (VZ +0.88%), earns today. It's more money than either AT&T (T -0.26%) or Comcast (CMCSA +0.60%) make. Not coincidentally, SpaceX is now saying it wants to turn Starlink into "a major mobile carrier in the U.S." that could rival Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast.

And last week, in an $8 billion deal, SpaceX snapped up a batch of cellular spectrum licenses that will help it to do just that -- only days after the Federal Communications Commission approved the company's plan to put 15,000 direct-to-cell communications satellites in orbit.

AI may be SpaceX's biggest bet on the future. In the near term, however, Starlink's prospects are looking even brighter.

President Donald Trump on Friday denied that the White House had ordered restrictions this week on Starlink satellite internet services provided to Ukraine's armed forces.

Ukrainian officials on Tuesday and Wednesday said SpaceX had restricted use of Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink, without warning, impeding some military operations and its ability to defend civilians against intensifying attacks by Russia.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk pinned responsibility for any restrictions on the U.S. government and Trump, writing on X that, "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government."

Reporters in Washington, D.C., on Friday asked Trump who was responsible for pausing access for the Ukrainian military.

"Well, I don't know if it was anybody because it wasn't me, and I don't think it was Elon," Trump said. "And from what I understand, it's the same as it's always been."

Read more CNBC tech newsAmazon launches new Bee 'personal AI' devices that listen to conversationsNvidia CEO Jensen Huang urges U.S.-China dialogue on 'potentially dangerous' AIOpenAI sued by 8 states over ChatGPT safety concernsAnthropic's third-quarter revenue is said to hit $16.8 billion ahead of IPOUkrainian forces have long relied on Starlink and Starshield to enable data gathering by their autonomous drones and for other communications. The restrictions cut off connectivity for drones or other vehicles traveling above 160 kilometers per hour.

Serhii Beskrestnov, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote in a post on Telegram this week that, "Our armed forces did not receive a warning about these restrictions, and this led to the failure of a number of missions."

Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's deputy prime minister, criticized Musk on X about the restrictions. Poland has purchased Starlink services for Ukraine from SpaceX.

"Hey, @elonmusk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again?" he wrote. "As your European customers, we are watching you."

Musk is an advisor to the Pentagon on technology through his role in the recently announced Project Meridian.

The Telegraph reported Friday that Musk "approached Donald Trump with the idea of slowing down Starlink in Ukraine," and both had a hand in imposing the restrictions.

Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two U.S. officials, that the call to restrict Starlink in Ukraine came from the White House, but did not say who made the order.

On Oct. 10, after Trump called on Ukraine to stop all attacks on Russian oil refineries, Musk wrote in a post on X, "Zelensky has gone too far."

Musk and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

SpaceX shares are down about 11% this week. The company is scheduled to report quarterly results on Tuesday.

watch now

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) will post third-quarter financial results next Tuesday, Oct. 20, after the closing bell. The company will host an audio-only webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET the same day to discuss the report. 

Also on Friday, Evercore ISI analyst Kutgun Maral reiterated an Outperform rating on SpaceX and raised his price target to $275 from $230. The new target suggests 85% upside from Thursday’s close.

Maral argues SpaceX upcoming earnings report will be judged on bigger questions than quarter-over-quarter performance.

In a preview note, he outlined five debates he expects investors to weigh heading into the print. He also expects a sizable revenue increase, with the AI segment doing most of the heavy lifting.

1. The $100 Billion Run RateRevenue is the headline debate. Maral sees SpaceX as well-positioned to exit 2026 with annualized revenue above $100 billion. His estimate sits near $104 billion.

Two drivers stand behind the forecast. Strategic compute deals account for much of the expected growth, while internal revenue growth in the AI and connectivity businesses adds to the total. New agreements should help push the company past the $100 billion mark, according to the note.

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2. Compute CapacityEvercore ISI’s capacity forecast runs ahead of the Street. The firm expects SpaceX to reach roughly 2.3 gigawatts of compute capacity by the end of 2026, above consensus expectations, and views the target as achievable.

More capacity gives the company room to sign additional compute deals. Maral said the expanded footprint could strengthen SpaceX’s market position.

3. 2027 PricingPricing on new 2027 deals is shaping up as a focal point. Maral currently models 2027 pricing at about $30 per watt, a figure he called critical to maintaining revenue streams and limiting downside risk.

The worry is a shift in market conditions. If pricing moves against SpaceX, the company could find itself at a disadvantage on new contracts, which could weigh on the revenue outlook.

4. Capex and FundingSpending is set to climb sharply. Evercore ISI expects capital expenditures to rise to roughly $151 billion in 2027, an increase the firm believes projected EBITDA growth will overshadow.

Even so, Maral stressed the need to manage the capex trajectory carefully. SpaceX faces significant capital requirements, and its ability to meet them will be vital to sustaining its ambitious growth plans, he wrote.

5. The Mobile WildcardWhether SpaceX launches a competitive mobile service remains unresolved. The outcome hinges on regulatory support and improvements to terrestrial capacity, the analyst said.

Some skepticism surrounds the idea. Still, continued growth in the AI segment could give SpaceX the flexibility to pivot toward hybrid connectivity solutions, Maral said.

Catalysts and RisksMaral expects new compute deal announcements around the third-quarter report, which he views as favorable for sustained revenue growth. CEO Elon Musk’s comments about ambitious revenue targets have also boosted investor optimism.

Concerns remain. The market continues to worry about execution risk, along with a broader narrative around potential saturation in space and AI. Maral said execution still warrants careful scrutiny.

SPCX Stock Price Activity: SpaceX stock was down 1.81% at $145.93 at the time of publication Friday, according to Benzinga Pro market data.

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Photo: Shutterstock

This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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The sudden disruption of Ukraine's military-grade Starlink access has exposed a key vulnerability. Dmytro Smolienko via Reuters Connect The sudden disruption to Ukraine's access to military-grade Starlink services this week shows the risks of overly relying on any single platform, particularly one beyond Kyiv's control, for mission-critical battlefield communications, Ukrainian soldiers, officials, and defense companies told Business Insider.

With those risks front of mind, Ukrainians are working to diversify military-related communications platforms beyond Starlink.

Ukrainian officials and soldiers were surprised on Wednesday by an unexpected disruption to Starshield, SpaceX's dedicated satellite network for military services. Defense ministry sources said speeds were restricted above 100 miles per hour, though some units experienced a loss of connectivity at speeds as low as 45 mph.

Services appeared to have been at least partially restored by Thursday. The full extent of the disruption remains unclear, but the incident has left some Ukrainians feeling uneasy.

Yehor Cherniev, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament's national security, defense, and intelligence committee, told Business Insider that the disruption underscores the risks of relying on a single communications platform. He said Kyiv is working to diversify its sources, but declined to specify how.

Yuriy, an officer with Ukraine's National Guard, told Business Insider that his units use Starshield to support drone operations, and several missions were spoiled during the disruption. He asked to be identified only by his first name for security purposes.

Yuriy said that while Starlink services are useful, the disruption exposes their unreliability. He said he would try to find alternate communications systems.

Alternatives to Starlink could be hard to find, though. Eutelsat, a large French satellite operator, saw its shares surge after this week's disruption, but Ukrainians say there is nothing else quite like what SpaceX offers.

"There is no working alternative to Starlink," said Dimko Zhluktenko, a soldier with Ukraine's 413th Unmanned Systems Regiment, calling it "an outstanding product."

Ukrainian forces are heavily reliant on Starshield, particularly for drone operations.  Ivan Antypenko/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC UA:PBC/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images "No direct competitor comes close," he told Business Insider, adding that "Europe has nothing comparable at this level of battlefield readiness."

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider this week.

Ukraine relies on Starlink for battlefield communications and drone warfare, a dependence that was underscored by the disruption. Defense ministry sources said the disruption complicated important drone operations, including mid-range strikes, air defense intercepts, and front-line logistics.

Ukraine uses both Starshield and Starlink, SpaceX's commercial satellite internet service, to extend the reach of its drones, maintain stable communications in electronically contested environments, and conduct remote operations far beyond the front lines.Satellite connections allow operators to control drones and receive live video without relying on traditional radio links, which have limited ranges and are much more vulnerable to electronic warfare interference.

The tech has been integrated into systems such as Perennial Autonomy's Hornet drones, as well as Ukrainian naval drones used to strike Russian targets in the Black Sea, among others.

Many Ukrainian defense companies have integrated Starlink services into their broader infrastructure, even if their products don't necessarily depend on it for operations.

Some firms, such as SkyFall, maker of the widely used P1-SUN interceptor drone, told Business Insider that they have developed their own communication methods or use alternative systems to avoid scenarios where a single technology outside Ukrainian control could become a significant point of failure, as it did this week.

"Depending on a single solution is very risky. Especially if you don't have full control over it," a spokesperson for Wild Hornets, the firm behind the popular Sting interceptor drone, told Business Insider. "Especially when it comes to something as critical on the battlefield as communications."

The spokesperson said this is "exactly why our ecosystem is built around our own communications technology and is open to various solutions when it comes to internet connectivity."

Ukrainian soldiers, officials, and defense firms say relying on one communications source is a risk.  Pavlo Bahmut/Ukrinform/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect For anyone working with technologies that are dominated by a single provider, the risks are clear, said the head of hardware research and development at BlueBird Tech, a defense firm that makes drones and robots. They told Business Insider that Starlink has virtually no competitors because of its coverage, cost, availability, and ease of use.

BlueBird Tech uses Starlink services but is trying to avoid tying its products completely to any single technology. "We're actively exploring ways to introduce redundancy and potentially replace these components in the future," they said, speaking anonymously due to security concerns.

They said that potential workarounds include LTE or 5G technology, mesh networks with relay points, and laser communications. "Research teams around the world are working on these technologies," they said, "although none of them should be seen as a universal replacement for Starlink across every operational scenario."

When the disruption first occurred on Wednesday, some Ukrainian and foreign officials initially blamed SpaceX, led by Elon Musk. However, the world's richest man said on X on Wednesday that because Starshield is operated by the US government, any limits on speed would be a decision for the Pentagon or President Donald Trump.

A senior US official told Business Insider on Thursday that "no such request was ever made by" Trump. Reuters reported that the order came from inside the White House.

Starlink has delivered Kyiv an important battlefield advantage, especially since SpaceX cracked down on Moscow's ability to use the terminals earlier this year. The system, however, does not work in Russia, so Ukraine is limited to using its services over its own territory and Russian-occupied lands.

Ukraine has been unable to use Starlink for its long-range drone strikes that have wreaked havoc on Russian energy sites. Trump has pushed Kyiv to stop its attacks as he attempts to use Russian oil to lower gas prices.

Ukraine has found itself facing mounting pressure from the US, once a top supporter, as it continues to grapple with Russian missile and drone strikes amid severe shortages of critical air defense interceptors. The Starlink outage has only compounded Kyiv's anxieties as it anticipates yet another tough winter.

"Starlink is a major card on the battlefield," Zhluktenko said. "You can fight without it — even successfully — as the Russians show, but less effectively, at higher cost, and with constant communication headaches, above all for unmanned systems."

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Jake Epstein You're currently following this author! Click to unsubscribe from email alerts.

Jake Epstein is a defense correspondent in London for Business Insider, covering the US military, NATO, and European security, as well as emerging tech in warfare.Jake has filed stories from conflict zones in Ukraine and the Middle East, where he embedded with a US aircraft carrier on a combat mission in the Red Sea. Jake has reported extensively on NATO operations and activities across Europe, including from aboard one of its AWACS surveillance aircraft along the Russian border, a British Voyager tanker refueling fighter jets over the Baltic Sea, and a Dutch helicopter flying to a warship in the Arctic.

Sinéad Baker You're currently following this author! Click to unsubscribe from email alerts.

Sinéad Baker is a Military and Defense Correspondent based in Business Insider's London bureau, writing about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and NATO actions.Sinéad most often covers soldiers' experiences, military strategy, battlefield developments, weapons systems, the defense industry's response, and the impact on NATO and European security, and geopolitical decisions that surround the Ukraine war. She has reported from NATO’s frontlines and around Europe,  has interviewed multiple prime ministers and defense ministers, has appeared on BBC News and The Guardian's politics podcast, and has been cited by Congressional hearings.Sinéad has also extensively covered US politics and previously led Business Insider's breaking news coverage from London.Sinéad previously completed a master's degree in investigative journalism at City, University of London, and has written for The Guardian, The Observer, and TheJournal.ie. Sinéad is the former editor of the multi-award-winning The University Times in Dublin.Expertise

Experiences of soldiers in Ukraine, including battlefield developments and tacticsWestern military responses to the war, and lessons they should learnNew weaponry built for and in response to the war Email Sinéad at [email protected] or find her on X.

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Harvard's investment in Elon Musk's SpaceX has paid off.

Matt Rourke/AP

Harvard University delivered its best investment return in five years as its bet on SpaceX boosted its stock portfolio.

The elite college's endowment returned 27.1% in the fiscal year ended June 30, its annual financial report revealed on Thursday. That comfortably outpaced the benchmark S&P 500's 22.3% total return over the same period.

After accounting for taxes, distributions, and gifts, Harvard's endowment grew by $11 billion to nearly $68 billion.

Harvard Management Company's stake in Elon Musk's maker of Starship rockets, Starlink satellites, and AI chatbot Grok was worth $2.2 billion at the end of June, per its second-quarter portfolio disclosure.

SpaceX was its number-one holding, more than six times more valuable than its second-biggest position, a sub-$350 million stake in Taiwan Semiconductor.

Its next-largest positions — each worth over $150 million — were Cerebras, Amazon, Alphabet, and Nvidia. Its 19 holdings at the end of June were together worth about $4.3 billion, more than double the portfolio's $1.8 billion value three months earlier.

Harvard said the strong performance of its endowment, which is nearly 400 years old and comprises about 15,000 individual funds, helped it weather the "abrupt termination of federal research grants" by the Trump administration.

It's worth noting that 13-F portfolio disclosures are a snapshot of a fund's US stock holdings on a certain date. They don't include foreign-listed stocks, non-stock assets like bonds or real estate, private investments, or stocks sold short.

Harvard said that as of June 30, 14% of its endowment was invested in public equities, 29% in hedge funds, 46% in private equity, 4% in real estate, and the balance elsewhere.

Harvard declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider.

SpaceX's valuation has whipsawed since the aerospace company went public on June 12. Its market capitalization topped $2.4 trillion on June 20, then tanked to $1.4 trillion by August 1, and has since rallied to around $2 trillion.

Musk's company posted a 92% year-on-year revenue jump for the quarter ended June, helping narrow its net loss from $1 billion to $541 million.

The world's richest man recently posted on X that he sees a path for SpaceX to be worth "orders of magnitude more than the current Earth economy," implying its stock could rise at least 6,000-fold to $12 quadrillion over time.

He later clarified that wasn't a "statement of extreme confidence," but he believes the probability of achieving that valuation is "not zero." On October 14, he said he expects SpaceX to be worth more than $100 trillion in the next 10 years.

Harvard is one of several shareholders to reveal a sizable stake in SpaceX. Google parent Alphabet reported a roughly 4% stake valued at $94 billion as of the end of June. Longtime Musk associate Peter Thiel disclosed a 3.2% position worth $73 billion held by his Founders Fund and related entities. AI chipmaker Nvidia has a $21 billion stake.

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Theron Mohamed

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Theron Mohamed is a London-based correspondent on the International team at Business Insider. His coverage spans finance, investing, wealth, markets, and the economy.Theron joined BI in 2019 as a reporter at Markets Insider and rose to the rank of correspondent before moving to the Trending team then the broader International team. He previously covered tech, media, and telecom stocks for Investors Chronicle magazine and had a brief stint on the Financial Times' Data team. He interned at the Wall Street Journal in New York where he primarily wrote for Heard on the Street.Theron has freelanced for The Independent, The Telegraph, WIRED, and several smaller publications. He holds an undergraduate degree in geography from the London School of Economics, and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.Theron often covers Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, and other elite investors. He also writes about the world's wealthiest people and shares financial advice from all manner of rich and successful people.Email Theron at [email protected] and follow him on X @theron_mohamed.

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The artificial intelligence (AI) boom has created some unlikely winners over the last few years. But lately, one of its biggest beneficiaries has suddenly become a major headache. CoreWeave (CRWV +5.94%), a leading provider of AI computing infrastructure, has seen its stock plummet as investors question whether the company is borrowing too much to capitalize on surging AI demand.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -2.33%) is quietly building a competing business. While SpaceX is best known for rockets and Starlink satellites, the company is becoming a serious player in AI infrastructure following its acquisitions of xAI and Cursor earlier this year.

With several multibillion-dollar capacity agreements beginning to generate revenue, CoreWeave's troubles could create a golden opportunity for SpaceX.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

CoreWeave is known as a neocloud. Rather than developing AI models itself, the company operates data centers filled with Nvidia chips and rents that compute capacity to hyperscalers. It's a savvy business model but an extraordinarily expensive business to build at scale.

CoreWeave has accumulated more than $50 billion in debt and operating leases as it races to build AI factories for customers including Microsoft, OpenAI, and Meta Platforms. On Oct. 14, CoreWeave stock plunged more than 15% after investors began questioning the sustainability of its borrowing strategy.

The warning signs were particularly evident in the bond market. CoreWeave's senior notes maturing in 2032 briefly traded at yields near 15% -- substantially above their original 9.625% coupon.

This doesn't mean CoreWeave is paying 15% interest on this debt. Rather, declining bond prices simply mean bond investors are demanding greater compensation for the company's credit risk.

The bigger issue at hand here is free cash flow. According to estimates from Visible Alpha, CoreWeave is expected to generate negative free cash flow of $25 billion this year, followed by deficits of $28 billion in 2027 and $18 billion in 2028.

Much of the company's spending will continue going toward infrastructure build-outs. But given the expected cash burn over the next few years, CoreWeave will depend on outside financing to continue its expansion. If lenders become less confident about the payoffs from AI data centers, CoreWeave's growth strategy becomes more vulnerable.

CRWV CoreWeave$69.69+$3.91 (+5.94%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/15/26

SpaceX is becoming CoreWeave's newest competitor Following its merger with xAI and acquisition of Cursor, SpaceX gained access to the Colossus AI data centers originally developed to train Musk's Grok family of models. Rather than reserving all the compute power for its own internal applications, SpaceX has begun renting out excess capacity to external customers.

So far, the numbers are impressive. Anthropic agreed to pay $1.25 billion per month for compute capacity across SpaceX's infrastructure. Meanwhile, Google Cloud signed a $920 million-per-month agreement. This deal is expected to go online this month and potentially continue through June 2029. The arrangement provides access to 110,000 Nvidia GPUs and related network equipment.

In addition, start-up Reflection AI entered into a compute leasing agreement worth $150 million per month, with the potential to reach up to $6.3 billion over the lifetime of the contract. In September, SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen disclosed an additional cloud services deal worth approximately $1.11 billion per month, with revenue scheduled to begin in December.

Together, these arrangements represent approximately $3.4 billion of monthly revenue -- equivalent to more than $41 billion annually. Most importantly, these contracts show how SpaceX is expanding into AI and moving beyond being a rocket and satellite company. It's now competing for the same AI infrastructure spending that once made CoreWeave a Wall Street darling.

SpaceX has more financial flexibility than CoreWeave SpaceX is not immune to the financial pressures around building AI infrastructure. As of June 30, the company carried $39.4 billion in total debt. The company is also spending heavily on data centers and other capital-intensive projects.

Nevertheless, SpaceX might be better positioned than CoreWeave because of its balance sheet. Following its blockbuster IPO in June, SpaceX ended the second quarter with roughly $100 billion in cash and equivalents. By comparison, CoreWeave held only about $6 billion in cash and equivalents at the end of the second quarter.

SPCX Total Long Term Debt (Quarterly) data by YCharts

For now, CoreWeave must convince lenders to keep financing its expansion while SpaceX has more room to maneuver. If CoreWeave decides to slow construction to preserve liquidity, SpaceX could have an opportunity to secure additional capacity agreements and capture more market share in the AI infrastructure market.

SpaceX's growing roster of AI customers and formidable liquidity profile give the company strong competitive advantages. For investors seeking exposure to the AI infrastructure supercycle, I see SpaceX as the more compelling opportunity over CoreWeave right now.

Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -2.33%) completed its initial public offering about four months ago, and so far, the stock has offered investors ups and downs -- after rising right out of the gate and climbing 50% to a peak in just a few days, the stock today trades only about 15% above its IPO price of $135. And at certain moments, it fell below that level.

SpaceX has been a closely watched player for a number of reasons. First, its IPO was the biggest ever, raising more than $85 billion after the exercise of an overallotment option, and the company entered the market with a trillion-dollar valuation. That's exceptional, since it took other trillion-dollar companies, from Apple to Nvidia, years on the market to reach that level. The company also specializes in technologies seen as game-changing, suggesting the revenue opportunity ahead could be big. Finally, the presence of chief Elon Musk, known for his focus on innovation, has drawn investor attention.

Still, SpaceX faces a fair share of risk, and that could weigh on the minds of some shareholders and potential investors. Where will the stock be after one year on the market? History offers us a clear idea.

Image source: Getty Images.

SpaceX's three businessesFirst, though, let's take a look at SpaceX's business, the possibilities, and the risk. SpaceX operates three growth-oriented businesses: space, satellite-based connectivity, and artificial intelligence (AI). Right now, its biggest revenue driver is the connectivity business, called Starlink, and the biggest drag on earnings is the AI unit. There, capital spending has well exceeded the company's total revenue. In the recent quarter, AI capex climbed to $15 billion, while the entire company generated about $7 billion in revenue.

This level of spending is to be expected in order to build out the technology needed to accomplish future goals. So it's part of the risk of owning SpaceX stock this early in its story. Meanwhile, Starlink is delivering significant growth, with subscribers doubling and that unit's revenue climbing 65%. The AI business is also growing, with Anthropic and Alphabet's Google signing deals with SpaceX to access compute.

Investors also might like the idea that SpaceX's progress in its space unit may significantly benefit its other businesses; the company's Starship, developed as a fully reusable rocket, recently completed its 14th flight, delivering 26 Starlink satellites into orbit. One of SpaceX's goals includes developing data centers in space, and Starship clearly could be useful here too.

Investing heavily in growthSo, SpaceX offers exciting possibilities, has made significant accomplishments, and is delivering growth. But the company also must invest heavily to potentially reach its long-term goals, and it's important to keep in mind that SpaceX may take longer than expected to reach certain goals or may not attain them at all. All of this means that SpaceX could deliver explosive growth to investors if it's successful, but if it disappoints, the stock could seriously stumble.

These two scenarios may have driven the stock's ups and downs in recent months, as investors weigh the pros and cons of owning SpaceX shares.

SPCX Space Exploration Technologies$148.62-$3.54 (-2.33%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/15/26

Where will the stock be next June?Now, let's consider where SpaceX stock may be one year from its IPO, so that would be in June of 2027. To do so, I looked at 10 of the biggest U.S. IPOs, from Meta Platforms to Uber Technologies, spanning 1999 through 2023. One year after their market debuts, eight out of 10 had delivered a decline, and seven of those were in the double digits. The average drop was 12%.

All of this suggests that, if SpaceX follows historical patterns, the stock may deliver a double-digit decrease in its first full year of trading.

Does this mean you should avoid the stock? SpaceX isn't the best buy for every investor. It carries a decent amount of risk, and we don't yet have great visibility on earnings patterns since the company recently went public -- and only public companies must file reports. Most investors should wait a few more quarters to gain such visibility before diving in.

That said, I wouldn't avoid the stock just because history suggests it may fall in the coming months. What's most important is long-term performance, so aggressive investors aiming to buy SpaceX should focus more heavily on the company's and the stock price's long-term potential.

SpaceX artificial intelligence policy leader Gabriela Castillo Madrid is set to testify before the New York City Council on Friday as part of a legislative investigation into AI safety.

The hearing with the council's tech committee is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET at City Hall with Castillo Madrid appearing by video conference.

Elon Musk's aerospace, defense tech and AI company originally evaded requests and a subpoena from the city council to appear alongside leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta on Oct. 5. SpaceX agreed to testify earlier this week after the council threatened to have its subpoena enforced by a judge.

The council opened its probe following a month of intense debate surrounding the risks posed by advanced AI models, and is aiming to use testimony and information unearthed through the investigation to guide new regulations.

Before Castillo Madrid took a role in government affairs at SpaceX earlier this year, she worked at X, Musk's social media company that's now owned by SpaceX, according to her LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, she spent almost three years at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

In merging SpaceX with xAI in February, Musk combined his AI and social networking business with his rocket launch company, which also owns the Starlink satellite internet service. The merger put SpaceX in control of AI model Grok, which is used by some federal agencies, including the Pentagon.

SpaceX went public in June and is now valued at about $2 trillion. In August, SpaceX completed a $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor.

In skipping the earlier NYC Council hearing, SpaceX avoided direct questioning from a member of the U.K. Parliament, Jess Asato, who testified about experiencing AI-enabled online harassment.

Asato is suing xAI in the U.K. after Grok users created and distributed sexualized images of her online without her consent. She's seeking damages, alleging misuse of her private information and breaches of European data protection rules.

According to the BBC, Asato criticized SpaceX for its "arrogance" in not appearing last week.

SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment ahead of the meeting.

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Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -2.33%) had a major IPO in June. The stock started hot, reached around $200 per share, then crashed to $110. However, it has settled back to just above $150 per share, which is ironically right where it started trading on its opening day. This tells me that the market has settled into a normalized valuation for the stock, but does that mean it's a good investment?

A $2,000 investment may not sound like much now, but it could grow substantially depending on whether SpaceX works out. But could it help you retire early? Maybe. But it won't be as quickly as you want.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

SpaceX is already a massive business
For a $2,000 investment to help you retire early, it needs to provide substantial returns, perhaps growing to $200,000 over a longer investment time frame, such as 15 to 20 years. The problem with SpaceX is the size at which it went public. Because it's a $2 trillion company, if the stock were to 10x, it would be worth $200 trillion. For reference, the global stock market is estimated to be worth over $150 trillion when all companies are combined.

SPCX Space Exploration Technologies$148.62-$3.54 (-2.33%)

NASDAQ · As of 4:00 PM ET 10/15/26

There just aren't enough investment dollars to go around to make SpaceX much larger than it already is, so investors need to shift their mindset.

Instead of thinking of SpaceX as a stock that will deliver huge returns, investors need to determine whether SpaceX can beat the S&P 500 moving forward. The S&P 500 averages about a 10% return each year, and beating this is the baseline an individual investor should aim for. Can SpaceX do that? I think so.

A major clue to SpaceX's growth potential is its revenue growth rate. During Q2, it was an impressive 92%. That well eclipses the 10% threshold established above, but SpaceX also has a ton of growth already baked into this stock price, so this growth rate was necessary to uphold expectations.

We'll have to see how SpaceX does over the next few years, but with its involvement in space exploration, artificial intelligence, and satellite internet, I'm confident it can continue to grow its revenue rapidly. These are major growth industries to be in, giving SpaceX a great growth edge.

The biggest holdup with SpaceX stock right now is its profitability. Currently, it isn't profitable, and it may not be for some time. Investors must grapple with this, as it does shift confidence in the investment. But if SpaceX can continue growing its revenue at an above-average pace and become profitable, I don't doubt that SpaceX will beat the market and accelerate your path to retiring, really. However, it may not happen as quickly as you would hope.

Harvard University's endowment grew 27.1% in fiscal year 2026, its strongest return in five years, the school said in its annual financial report released on Thursday. 

The endowment, which beat the S&P 500's 22.3% total return in the same period by 4.8 percentage points, now totals nearly $68 billion. The outperformance came amid actions by the Trump administration to penalize the school and withhold funding from the university. 

"While markets can easily take back what they give, that return will strengthen the endowment's capacity to support the University over time," Harvard's chief financial officer Ritu Kalra and treasurer Timothy Barakett wrote in the 49-page annual report. "The University deliberately smooths distributions so that operating support does not rise and fall with the markets. Strong investment returns therefore support Harvard's work gradually, through future distributions."

The returns marked the best year for the endowment, managed by the Harvard Management Company, since 2021. Harvard's fiscal year ends on June 30. 

In its second-quarter 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvard unveiled a $2.2 billion stake in Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket and satellite company. It marked the endowment's largest single holding by value, trailed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company at just under $350 million. 

Harvard's financial picture, though, is undermined by moves by the federal government. Federally-sponsored research revenue declined 19.5% to $509 million in fiscal 2026. 

And starting in the current fiscal year, "endowment resources will face an additional constraint, with the federal excise tax on Harvard's net investment income rising nearly six-fold, from 1.4% to 8%," Kalra and Barakett wrote. "We estimate the higher rate will cost roughly $300 million a year."

"[I]n a year of returns like this one," the federal excise tax "would be several times larger," they noted.

President Alan Garber acknowledged such headwinds, but said in the report that Harvard can still succeed.

"Together, we have the opportunity to set the University on a path to excellence that none of us can imagine today," he said. "Notwithstanding the challenges and uncertainty, this is a thrilling time to be part of a great American institution devoted to Veritas."

Elon Musk‘s $100 trillion Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) forecast needs more than rockets reaching orbit and satellites connecting remote homes.

One potentially larger opportunity is turning Starlink into a mobile connectivity business that can reach ordinary smartphones, opening a market far bigger than satellite broadband alone. But the economics of that expansion, not the size of the opportunity, will determine how much it adds to SpaceX’s valuation.

Starlink Wants a Bigger Wireless MarketSpaceX is moving beyond its traditional satellite internet model. On Oct. 8, the company agreed to acquire a nationwide low-band spectrum portfolio from Grain Management for approximately $8 billion.

The 800-megahertz spectrum could help Starlink Mobile deliver signals over longer distances and penetrate buildings more effectively. Combined with its existing spectrum and satellite network, it could give SpaceX a path toward competing more directly with conventional wireless carriers rather than relying exclusively on partnerships to extend their coverage.

That is a potentially important shift in the business model. Satellite broadband requires specialized equipment, while direct-to-cell services aim to connect compatible smartphones.

A successful mobile offering could expand Starlink’s addressable market, although network capacity, service quality and regulatory approvals will determine how quickly it can scale.

India’s Millions-User OpportunityIndia illustrates the potential reach. The country had approximately 1.27 billion wireless mobile subscriptions at the end of March 2026, according to the Department of Telecommunications.

If Starlink eventually captured just 2% of that subscription base, it would serve roughly 25 million connections. At a hypothetical 100 Indian rupees (~$1.05) per month received by SpaceX for each connection, that would generate approximately 30 billion rupees, or $350 million, in annual revenue at about INR 86 per dollar.

A 5% share would mean about 63 million connections and approximately $880 million in annual revenue under the same assumptions. These are illustrative scenarios, not forecasts: Starlink has not announced an Indian direct-to-cell price, and its share of customer payments would depend on its commercial arrangements.

India also presents a regulatory hurdle. Reuters reported on Oct. 11 that Musk had promised affordable Starlink pricing, but satellite internet availability does not automatically authorize direct-to-cell services.

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The $100 Trillion Valuation TestEven the bullish Indian scenario produces less than $1 billion in annual revenue for SpaceX. That is meaningful, but insufficient by itself to explain Musk’s extraordinary valuation target.

The broader case depends on Starlink scaling globally, AI infrastructure generating substantial earnings and Starship potentially lowering launch costs enough to unlock new businesses. India’s mobile market is one possible contributor, not proof of the end valuation.

What SpaceX Investors Should WatchInvestors should watch whether SpaceX can turn spectrum investment into paying mobile subscribers, expand beyond existing carrier partnerships and generate attractive margins after network costs.

The $100 trillion ambition requires multiple businesses to scale dramatically; Starlink Mobile could help, but execution will matter far more than the headline market size.

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© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Starlink equipment is a common sight on the front lines in Ukraine.

Maxym Marusenko via Reuters Connect

Ukraine's access to military-grade Starlink services appears to have been at least partially restored on Thursday, a day after Kyiv was stunned by sudden speed limits that it said hamstrung some drone operations.

Ukrainian defense ministry sources told Business Insider that Starshield services remained functional while in motion as of roughly 11:45 a.m. local time on Thursday, according to reports that they had received from military units.

The sources said the defense ministry is working to understand how and why there was a disruption to the operation of Starshield, SpaceX's dedicated satellite network for military services.

Yehor Cherniev, the deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament's national security, defense, and intelligence committee, told Business Insider that Starshield services had been restored to their pre-disruption capacity.

Ukrainian officials and service members were caught off guard on Wednesday by the unexpected Starshield disruption, which they said restricted speeds above 100 miles per hour. Some units experienced a loss of connection at speeds as low as 45 miles per hour.

The full extent of the service limitation remains unclear.

Yuriy, an officer with Ukraine's National Guard, told Business Insider that his units use Starshield to support drone operations and that speeds were back above 100 miles per hour as of Thursday morning. He asked to be identified only by his first name for security purposes.

However, Yuriy said that several operations were disrupted during the earlier restrictions.

Defense ministry sources said the disruption complicated mid-range strikes, air defense intercepts, and front-line logistics. Starlink does not work inside Russia, so the issue was limited to missions in Ukrainian territory or Russian-occupied territory.

Starlink has been a game changer for Ukrainian operations, especially by ensuring connectivity for drone warfare. 

Andriy Dubchak/Frontliner/Getty Images

The sudden Starlink disruption caused widespread confusion and raised questions about the source of the decision and whether it was connected to tensions between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over Kyiv's targeting of Russian energy facilities.

Neither the Pentagon nor the White House has responded to requests for comment.

Ukrainian forces use Starlink, the commercial satellite internet service run by SpaceX, and Starshield, a secure network for military and government work built by the company but operated by the US government. Some Ukrainian officials initially blamed SpaceX for the disruption.

In an X post on Wednesday responding to Ukraine's former defense minister, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote put the issue on the Trump administration, saying that Starshield was "owned and controlled by the American government." He said "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS."

Sprawling influenceThe outage and impact on front-line operations have called attention to Ukraine's deep dependence on Starlink, which has become critical for battlefield communications and drone warfare.

As Business Insider recently reported, Starlink's rapid expansion has given Musk and SpaceX an enormous source of influence and soft power, and the world's richest man has not been shy about using that power in Ukraine to influence the course of the war.

Musk said in 2023 that he refused a request from Ukraine's military to activate Starlink to assist a Ukrainian assault on the occupied Crimean peninsula. Earlier this year, SpaceX clamped down on Russian forces' use of Starlink terminals in Ukraine, handing Ukraine a key battlefield advantage.

While support for Ukraine has varied, Musk has consistently been a prominent critic of the Ukrainian president. In an X post late on Wednesday, hours after responding to Ukraine's defense minister, he wrote that it was "time for Zelenskyy to go."

The sudden Starlink disruptions came as Ukraine faces growing pressure from the US, with Trump pushing Kyiv to halt its strikes on Russian energy facilities. The US president said on Tuesday that Washington had not cut intelligence sharing with Ukraine, another concern for the country.

Cherniev, the Ukrainian lawmaker, confirmed on Thursday that the US continues to share intelligence with Kyiv.

Meanwhile, Russia has intensified its ballistic missile attacks against Ukraine, firing dozens overnight. Recent attacks have targeted Kyiv and Ukrainian energy facilities.

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Jake Epstein is a defense correspondent in London for Business Insider, covering the US military, NATO, and European security, as well as emerging tech in warfare.Jake has filed stories from conflict zones in Ukraine and the Middle East, where he embedded with a US aircraft carrier on a combat mission in the Red Sea. Jake has reported extensively on NATO operations and activities across Europe, including from aboard one of its AWACS surveillance aircraft along the Russian border, a British Voyager tanker refueling fighter jets over the Baltic Sea, and a Dutch helicopter flying to a warship in the Arctic.

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Elon Musk has a history of expressing views that can alienate some of the customer base for his companies. That appears to have occurred again after last night's social media posts.

That has shares of Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -3.53%) sinking today. SpaceX stock recovered from early lows, but was still down by 3.5% as of 10:50 a.m. ET.

Image source: The White House.

Officials in Ukraine said that its use of the Starlink satellite internet service was being restricted, impeding its defenses in its war with Russia. Ukraine uses both Starlink and Starshield to support its defense and military initiatives against Russia. Starlink is the commercial service, while Starshield is a separate, military-grade platform.

After reporting delayed service, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk chimed in on social media, pointing out to followers that the Pentagon, and, ultimately, President Trump, controlled the military service. He also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, posting "Time for Zelensky to go."

Immersing himself in political debates could alienate Starlink's customer base. Starlink has over 10,000 satellites in orbit, serving 12 million customers in 167 countries as of the end of Q2. It is the only SpaceX segment that is profitable, accounting for 60% of revenue in the first six months of 2026.

SPCX Space Exploration Technologies$146.79-$5.37 (-3.53%)

NASDAQ · As of 10:53 AM ET 10/15/26

SpaceX investors don't want to see politics get in the way of a profitable business. In reality, though, the online comments are most likely just noise, making any meaningful drop in SpaceX shares a potentially good opportunity for long-term investors.

Howard Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

SpaceX "will make you whole" if your AI agent makes unauthorized purchases, Musk said on X.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Elon Musk said that SpaceX will pay users back if Grok’s AI agent makes a mistake while completing a purchase or leaks their card information.

In a Thursday X post, Musk said the company "will make you whole" if Grok makes a financial mistake. He made the comment in response to an X user praising Grok for booking them a flight after being sent a photograph of their credit card.

The user described the airline’s website as confusing and said Grok completed the transaction and delivered a booking confirmation.

"This works well," Musk wrote. "If Grok Bot makes a mistake with a purchase or leaks your card (never happened yet), SpaceX will make you whole."

Grok, Meta, and OpenAI all take a broadly similar approach in their published terms for agents: users are responsible for the actions and transactions their AI agents carry out on their behalf.

Meta says Muse requires approval before purchases, while Grok’s terms include interactions with financial institutions, but none offers the kind of explicit reimbursement pledge Musk described.

Musk did not set out the scope of the apparent guarantee, including whether it would cover unauthorized purchases, incorrect bookings, fraud by third-party merchants, or consequential losses such as missed travel.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk's assertion.

The risks are already emerging as agents gain access to payment methods and online accounts.

In a recent example involving Grok, Shane Mac, the CEO of software company XMTP Labs, told Business Insider's Aditi Bharade that a personal-finance agent he created posted his bank balances and spending details in his company’s executive Slack channel after confusing two similarly named chats.

Grok’s team later changed its permission controls, according to Mac.

Similarly, one user of the AI agent Instinct said it ordered 20 pounds of chicken wings during an agent-assisted grocery shop, while a Muse user said the agent accepted a low offer for a keyboard on Facebook Marketplace and shared his home address with the buyer.

He later said he had selected an "Allow Always" setting, though he had believed the agent would still seek approval before accepting offers.

While Musk’s promise is short on detail, it raises a broader question for the companies building agents that can spend money and access sensitive data: Will users continue to be expected to bear the risk, or will the companies behind the tools begin to share it?

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine will resume attacks on Russian energy infrastructure after Moscow failed to uphold its end of an "energy ceasefire" deal proposed by President Donald Trump. 

"The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We're done," Zelenskyy told the Financial Times after Ukraine paused strikes on energy targets for three days at the request of Washington.

On Sunday, Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" between Ukraine and Russia in an effort to put an end to the countries attacking each other's power facilities and thereby lower the price of oil and diesel ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.

Despite Ukraine's pause, officials in Kyiv said the country has been stripped of advance warnings of incoming ballistic missiles, as Starlink connectivity services had been restricted across the country, disrupting military operations. The restrictions apply to the sister service Starshield. 

Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy on defense technology, said Wednesday that SpaceX has implemented a speed limit on Starlink terminals in motion without notifying Ukrainian defense forces. 

"It is clear that this action cannot be a coincidence and is related to the current political situation," Beskrestnov said on Telegram.

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According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the U.S. government is ultimately responsible for any curbs on Ukraine's military-grade Starlink network. "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government," he wrote on X on Wednesday.

The White House and SpaceX didn't respond to CNBC's request for comment. 

In an interview with Piers Morgan released late Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he felt let down by Trump's recent dealings with Vladimir Putin, Russia's attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and the apparent speed limits imposed on SpaceX's military communications network Starshield.

Asked whether he felt "betrayed by what has been happening," Zelenskyy answered: "Really, yes," but stressed that Ukraine's survival and its strategic relationship with the U.S. mattered more than his personal emotions. 

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had honored a proposed energy ceasefire for three days, refraining from both attacks and retaliation, while Russia subsequently launched a massive assault on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, including approximately 40 ballistic missiles. 

He said he had warned U.S. officials that Russia would violate the ceasefire and described the reported Starlink shutdown as an "absolutely crazy" move that was not consistent with the behavior expected between partners.

The Trump administration is considering ​easing sanctions on so-called shadow fleet vessels that have transported oil and petroleum products from countries including Russia, Iran and ‌Venezuela, in an effort to reduce record-high global freight rates, a US official said on Wednesday.

The discussions are happening days after President Donald Trump temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian diesel fuel, a move met with a torrent of criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European countries and some of Trump’s fellow Republicans in the US Senate.

Both Zelensky and the US senators called ​that move a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin that would provide Russia with revenue to keep funding its war in Ukraine.

The Trump administration is considering easing sanctions on shadow fleet tankers to lower record global freight rates. VIA REUTERS
The new ​talks center on the United States potentially allowing “legal oil” to flow on previously sanctioned vessels, the US official said. ⁠

That means crude or petroleum products not sanctioned by Washington rather than Russian and Iranian oil, which are under punitive measures.

The goal is to ​get more refined products and crude out of the Gulf, the official said.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a video to the World Petroleum ​Congress in Riyadh this week that the administration was talking about easing the sanctions on shadow fleet vessels in an effort to cut record freight rates that have cut into demand for US crude, according to Energy Aspects, a research group.

Bits of the talk were broadcast on social media, but Reuters was not able to obtain the ​full video or a transcript.

Workers fill Iraqi tanker trucks with gasoline at the Baniyas oil terminal in Syria’s Tartus province, on Sept. 27, 2026. ZUMAPRESS.com
The Department of Energy said it was not available.

Companies seeking to use the sanctioned vessels would have to apply ​to the US Treasury Department to use the vessels, the official said.

The Department of Energy said any move to relieve sanctions on the shadow fleet would not help ‌Russia to ⁠move oil or oil products.

The Treasury Department referred questions to the Department of Energy.

But Trump’s push to move Russian diesel to global markets quickly could put pressure on the departments to allow shipment via the vessels.

The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

High oil and fuel prices are a risk for Trump in the November 3 midterm elections in which Republicans are hoping to maintain control of both chambers of Congress. He ​lifted the sanctions on Russian diesel ​through April 7.

RECORD HIGHS
Tanker freight ⁠rates have soared to record highs as the wars in Iran and Ukraine have stoked inflation and put US crude oil out of reach for Asian refiners, pushing them to seek alternatives from the Middle East and Latin America.

Energy Aspects said ​in a note to clients that easing the sanctions on the shadow fleet would not greatly impact freight ​rates but could ⁠allow more movement of oil in the Middle East.

President Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Billy Mitchell Room at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025. White House
Lifting the sanctions on the tankers that are mostly old and not well maintained is “unlikely to add meaningful mainstream fleet capacity overnight, especially as most tankers sanctioned over Russian or Venezuelan links have been actively trading over the past three months,” it said in the ⁠note.

Easing the ​restrictions “could make a small number of additional tankers available for certain (Strait of) Hormuz shuttle runs,” ​in the waterway between Iran and Oman.

Lifting the measures is unlikely to result in a broad easing of freight rates as ship insurers will still be bound by EU and UK ​regulations, maritime industry sources said.

Elon Musk's SpaceX Corp (NASDAQ:SPCX) has reportedly imposed new speed restrictions on military-grade Starlink terminals in Ukraine, disrupting drone operations and raising concerns over Kyiv's ability to defend against Russian aerial attacks.

Ukrainian officials said the restrictions were introduced without warning, limiting the speed at which certain weapons systems can travel while maintaining an internet connection.

The changes have reportedly affected Ukraine's midrange drone strikes and its ability to intercept Russia's newer jet-powered drones, potentially weakening a critical element of its military capabilities.

Starlink restrictions disrupt military missions
Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed that SpaceX had introduced speed limits on Starlink terminals operating in motion.

"I confirm that SpaceX implemented a speed limit for Starlink terminals operating in motion last night," Beskrestnov said on Telegram.

He said Ukrainian defence forces received no advance warning and that the restrictions had disrupted several military missions.

The cause of the changes remains unclear, with SpaceX yet to publicly explain the reported disruption.

Zelensky called for the restrictions to be reversed, expressing hope that the changes were the result of an error.

"It is a big mistake. This decision will bring a lot of human losses," Zelensky told British broadcaster Piers Morgan.

Trump administration pressure adds to tensions
The reported disruption comes amid growing tensions between Washington and Kyiv, with US President Donald Trump increasing pressure on Ukraine over its continued military operations against Russia.

Trump has called for Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries and criticised Zelensky's handling of the conflict, including calling for his removal.

Relations have also been strained by a US agreement to purchase Russian diesel and the announcement of an energy ceasefire, which Kyiv accused Moscow of violating again on Wednesday.

Zelensky said he felt betrayed by Washington's recent decisions and expressed concern about the deterioration of US support.

"It is a pity that we are losing a strong partner," he said.

Pentagon controls Starshield restrictions
Former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov urged SpaceX to remove the speed restrictions entirely, describing unrestricted access to Starshield as critical to Ukraine's defence.

Fedorov thanked Musk for his previous assistance and expressed hope that support would continue.

Responding on social media, Musk said Starshield's operational limits were determined by the Pentagon and ultimately the Trump administration.

However, Musk did not directly address the latest reported slowdown or explain why the restrictions had been introduced.

The developments highlight Ukraine's reliance on US-controlled satellite communications technology for battlefield operations, particularly as drones become increasingly central to the conflict.