In a landmark expansion beyond rockets and satellite internet, SpaceX reached a binding financing agreement with entities managed by Apollo Global Management (alongside participation from major Wall Street backers like Goldman Sachs) totaling roughly $40 billion.
Under the master lease arrangement, an Apollo-managed affiliate will purchase advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) and server hardware—featuring Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin architecture—and lease them to SpaceX over a five-year term to support its soaring terrestrial computing and artificial intelligence ambitions.
Rather than an immediate upfront cash purchase or traditional corporate debt, the agreement relies on a master equipment lease.
Individual leases span roughly five to five-and-a-quarter years, with quarterly advance payments covering fractional principal and a fixed annual rate.
The financing is targeted directly at procuring next-generation Nvidia chips (including upcoming Vera Rubin architecture).
While the binding agreement is expected to close before the end of 2026, equipment deliveries and the commencement of individual lease schedules are slated to roll out through the first half of 2027.
As reported, SpaceX intends to channel the massive computing cluster into expanding its terrestrial data center infrastructure, supporting large-scale training requirements for Grok and commercial cloud customers.
The deal illustrates how massive tech players are leveraging private capital markets to navigate skyrocketing debt-market costs.
Even with this multi-billion dollar equipment financing framework, SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen noted that the company separately anticipated substantial near-term capital expenditures as its infrastructure push accelerates.
