Memorandum
- From
- Delaney Sawyer via Fast Company
- Date
- Filed
- Business·4 min to read
- Re
SpaceX Posts Blowout Quarter as Musk Lifts 2028 Revenue Target to $1 Trillion
ReSpaceX Posts Blowout Quarter as Musk Lifts 2028 Revenue Target to $1 Trillion
SpaceX beat Wall Street expectations with $14.58 billion in quarterly revenue, driven by explosive growth in its AI and Starlink businesses, as Elon Musk said $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2028 is «no longer impossible.»
SpaceX delivered a far stronger-than-expected third-quarter 2026 earnings report, posting $14.58 billion in revenue and swinging to a multibillion-dollar profit, as its artificial intelligence and satellite internet businesses expanded at a pace that surprised analysts.
The company reported 161% revenue growth year over year, well ahead of the $12.72 billion analysts had expected. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 45 cents, compared with a forecast of 13 cents. Operating income reached $2.8 billion, and net income was $4.4 billion, a sharp reversal from a net loss of $1.05 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Shares of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which trades under the ticker SPCX, rose more than 10% by midday Wednesday following the release. It was only the company's second earnings report since going public.
The standout performer was SpaceX's Super Intelligence segment, the company's AI business, where revenue grew ninefold to $7.56 billion from $813 million a year earlier. That makes Super Intelligence the company's largest business, according to the report. The company attributed the overall growth to the AI unit and to accelerated expansion in its Connectivity division.
Starlink, the satellite internet service, continued to add customers. The subscriber base now stands at 13.6 million, up from 12 million in the prior period. The service operates in 174 countries, and SpaceX has more than 11,000 satellites in orbit.
Founder and CEO Elon Musk used the occasion to revise his long-term ambitions. In a post on his social media platform X on the day of the earnings release, Musk wrote: «As crazy as this sounds, $1T in SpaceX revenue in 2028 is no longer impossible.» The comment marked a notable acceleration from August, when Musk said on a second-quarter earnings call that the $1 trillion milestone would likely not be reached until 2030, adding that there was «a non-zero chance of that being in 2029.»
Musk also addressed the possibility of a combination with Tesla, the electric automaker he also leads, calling a merger a «good idea» just ahead of Tesla's own third-quarter earnings report, which was scheduled for release after the closing bell. Tesla has been described as an ailing automaker in recent coverage, and any tie-up would raise questions about how the two companies' operations and shareholders would be combined.
The results give investors a clearer picture of how SpaceX's business has evolved beyond launch services. The AI segment's rapid growth and Starlink's expanding subscriber base now account for a substantial share of revenue, while the company's core rocket business continues to support satellite deployment and government contracts.
The earnings beat and Musk's revised timeline are likely to intensify scrutiny of SpaceX's valuation and its path to sustained profitability as a public company. Analysts had been watching for signs that the company could translate its launch dominance into durable earnings, and the latest quarter offered the strongest evidence yet that its newer business lines are scaling quickly.
Whether the $1 trillion revenue target is achievable by 2028 remains an open question. Musk has a history of setting aggressive deadlines that slip, and the company's own prior guidance pointed to 2030. Still, the third-quarter figures gave the forecast a firmer foundation than it had just months earlier, when the CEO described the 2028 goal as out of reach.
6
