SPCX stock climbs as three Thursday launches coincide with start of Google’s $920 million AI pact
Investors have also focused on revenues that are no longer tied solely to launches.
A June deal with Alphabet calls for SpaceX to provide AI computing services for about $920 million per month for 32 months, starting this month.
Overnight, Musk said he was cautiously optimistic that a SpaceX version of Nvidia’s VR72 could operate at an average power of nearly 250 kW, calling it a big deal if it comes to fruition.
Shares of Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX) soared sharply on Friday, rising more than 7%, as investors anticipated a rare burst of launch activity and the start of major artificial intelligence computing contracts.
The stock closed at nearly $159, above its IPO price of $135 but below its high of around $225. The move continues a breakthrough that followed the Starship launcher’s first orbital flight earlier in the week.
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Several launches boost SPCX
For about 13 hours starting Thursday, SpaceX flew three missions: NASA’s Crew-13, carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a Falcon 9 and a Crew Dragon from Cape Canaveral; Transporter-18, a California rideshare that transported approximately 130 payloads, including a Planet Labs satellite for Google’s Project Suncatcher; and NROL-97 for the National Reconnaissance Office on a Falcon Heavy, with the two side boosters recovered.
Project Suncatcher is testing whether Google’s tensor processing units can run AI workloads in orbit. The footage followed Monday’s Starship Flight 14, which reached Earth’s orbit for the first time and deployed 26 next-generation Starlink satellites despite an engine failure during ascent.
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Investors have also focused on revenues that are no longer tied solely to launches. A June deal with Alphabet calls for SpaceX to provide AI computing services for about $920 million per month for 32 months, starting this month and running through June 2029, or about $29 billion over the life of the deal, according to prior reporting.
A separate Anthropic deal, disclosed in SpaceX’s May filing, calls for $1.25 billion a month through May 2029, or about $15 billion a year, and more than Alphabet’s $920 million monthly rate. Anthropic’s payments began in May with reduced fees as capacity increased, with full pricing having been in effect since July.
The payments come as SpaceX, which acquired xAI earlier this year, is increasingly valued as an infrastructure provider for hyperscalers as well as a satellite launch and broadband operator. Overnight, Musk said he was cautiously optimistic that a SpaceX version of Nvidia’s VR72, an artificial intelligence supercomputer platform, could operate at an average power of nearly 250 kW, calling it serious if it came to fruition, thereby amplifying the AI narrative.
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