SpaceX is seeking $40 billion in financing to buy additional Nvidia GPUs, as the FCC simultaneously announced plans to auction 25 megahertz of prime satellite spectrum that could benefit both SpaceX and Amazon's growing direct-to-device businesses.
SpaceX is seeking to raise $40 billion to purchase additional Nvidia chips, while the Federal Communications Commission separately announced plans to auction 25 megahertz of "prime spectrum" to support satellite direct-to-device services — two developments that together underscore the company's expanding ambitions across AI infrastructure and satellite connectivity.
Apollo Global Management and a consortium of banks are in early talks to help finance the chip acquisition, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposed deal could include $10 billion in bank loans alongside an additional $30 billion in investment-grade debt, with no timeline yet established for closing.
The move follows a $25 billion debt sale SpaceX completed in June, less than two weeks after its initial public offering, to fund AI compute ambitions that include renting out processing capacity to customers such as Anthropic and Alphabet's Google.
In August, Elon Musk committed the company to an exclusive hardware relationship with the chip maker. "We've decided to build exclusively on Nvidia because we think the Vera Rubin architecture is the best architecture. We think it's the best AI computer and we greatly value our close cooperation and partnership on many levels with Nvidia. So, we're exclusive to Nvidia," Musk said at the time.
Wall Street projects SpaceX's AI segment will generate $6.22 billion in revenue during the September quarter, rising to $11.27 billion in the December period, reflecting rapid growth in a business line that sits alongside the company's Starlink internet service, its X social media platform, the Grok chatbot, and the recently acquired Cursor coding assistant.
On the regulatory front, the FCC said Wednesday it will vote on a proposal to auction 25 megahertz of spectrum designated to support direct-to-device connectivity from satellites to smartphones. The commission also said it would vote October 29 on whether to seek public comment on a separate proposal to make an additional 482 megahertz of spectrum available for supplemental coverage from space, while modernizing its rules for licensed D2D services.
A third proposal included in the same package would remove an existing restriction on drone operations in the 800 MHz Cellular band.
The spectrum actions stand to benefit both SpaceX and Amazon. On Tuesday, the FCC's Space Bureau granted SpaceX authorization for a new direct-to-cell constellation of 15,000 satellites, utilizing spectrum the company acquired from EchoStar earlier this year. Amazon, meanwhile, filed in July for approval to launch up to 5,105 internet satellites targeting users "unserved or underserved" by existing wireless providers, and in August announced a deal worth more than $11.5 billion to acquire Globalstar to bolster its low-Earth-orbit satellite business.
"The 'direct-to-device' proposals work to continue leveraging this cutting-edge tech to end cell phone dead zones and provide service directly from next-gen satellite constellations to your smartphone," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement Wednesday. "And our final rules on drones further President Trump's call for drone dominance, providing the emerging American drone economy with usable spectrum to support the next generation of commercial and defense innovations."
SpaceX shares fell roughly 2.5% on Wednesday amid a broader selloff in tech stocks, though the stock has climbed nearly 60% from its all-time low of approximately $105 reached on August 3. The IPO was priced at $135, with shares briefly surging above $225 shortly after the June 12 debut. Morgan Stanley, in a note to clients Sunday, described the stock as "cheap and getting cheaper."
Nvidia shares dipped less than 1% Wednesday, coming off back-to-back record closes. The company announced September 28 that it was expanding its share buyback program by $150 billion, bringing the total authorization to $235 billion.
With SpaceX simultaneously pursuing a large-scale Nvidia hardware commitment and positioning itself for new satellite spectrum, the company's trajectory as a dual AI infrastructure and space connectivity provider will face a critical test in how quickly its compute-rental business scales to service the debt load it is accumulating.
Jay Goldberg is a staff writer at TechEchelon covering technology, markets, and policy. He files the breaking news and deal coverage that move the publication's core desks.
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