SpaceX‘s AI business lost a staggering $6.4 billion last year. Most companies would call that a problem. Elon Musk appears to call it an investment.
Buried in the company’s IPO fact sheet is a glimpse into what could become one of the most aggressive AI infrastructure bets in the industry. While investors have been focused on NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), OpenAI and the race for ever-larger AI clusters, SpaceX is quietly spending billions building what it describes as gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure.
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Gigawatt AI Ambitions
According to the filing, SpaceX’s AI segment posted an operating loss of $6.4 billion in 2025, compared with a $1.6 billion loss a year earlier. Segment-adjusted EBITDA swung to a loss of $1.2 billion from a positive $300 million in 2024 as the company ramped spending on compute infrastructure and growth initiatives.
The company says it has already deployed AI training clusters with more than 1 gigawatt of nameplate compute draw and expects a multi-year investment cycle before the segment reaches sustained profitability.
That sounds expensive. It also sounds familiar.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) spent years sacrificing profits to build cloud infrastructure. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is pouring tens of billions into AI data centers today. SpaceX appears to be following a similar playbook — investing heavily in AI infrastructure today in hopes of capturing a significant share of a potentially massive market in the future.
Beyond Grok
What makes the strategy notable is its scope.
SpaceX isn’t just talking about AI models. The company says its long-term plans include selling AI compute, selling AI intelligence, designing its own chips and even deploying orbital AI compute infrastructure. It estimates the AI opportunity across infrastructure, enterprise applications, subscriptions and advertising at roughly $26.5 trillion.
Investors looking at the $6.4 billion loss may see red ink. Musk appears to see a construction bill.
If the company is right, the biggest AI story inside SpaceX may not be Grok. It may be the infrastructure being built behind it.
Photo: Wirestock Creators on Shutterstock.com
