SpaceX disclosed on October 26, 2026 that it reached a binding commitment to enter into an approximately $40 billion master finance lease for GPUs and related equipment with an entity managed by Apollo Global Management, a transaction SpaceX described as the largest committed GPU financing. The disclosure came in an official announcement dated October 26, 2026 and a Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the filing, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. entered into the binding commitment letter on October 24, 2026. Under the contemplated master finance lease, the Apollo-managed lessor will acquire graphics processing unit pods and related equipment and lease them to SpaceX for use at data centers selected by the company. The announcement states that the lease will deliver NVIDIA’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX’s terrestrial compute buildout.
The financing was committed by a group of financing parties led by Apollo and Goldman Sachs, with Goldman Sachs serving as sole structuring agent, according to the announcement. Funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, along with capital accounts advised by KKR, also made anchor commitments in the transaction.
Lease Structure and Payment Terms
The 8-K states that the equipment will be delivered in tranches, with each tranche subject to a separate lease schedule running approximately five to five and one-quarter years from the applicable commencement date. Rent under each schedule is payable quarterly in advance and generally consists of an amount equal to one-twentieth of the financed cost of the applicable tranche, an amount calculated at a fixed annual rate on the outstanding lease balance, and certain ongoing costs and expenses. The fixed rate will be set at a pricing that occurs before SpaceX enters into the master finance lease. SpaceX expects aggregate principal payments under the lease schedules over their respective terms to total approximately $40 billion.
CFO Commentary and Stated Purpose
In commentary included in the announcement, Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said: “SpaceX aims to deploy the largest compute infrastructure in the world.” With demand for compute continuing to accelerate, Johnsen said, the company is seeing payback periods of less than one year on its Super Intelligence infrastructure investments. He said the lease diversifies SpaceX’s funding sources and addresses a notable portion of the funding required to deliver on its growth plans, as the company aims to bring additional compute online at record speeds to power Grok for enterprises and consumers and to serve existing and future cloud services customers.
Financial and Compute Context
The lease commitment follows SpaceX’s third-quarter 2026 results, in which the company reported revenue of $14.6 billion, up 161% year-over-year, with its Super Intelligence segment generating $7.56 billion of quarterly revenue. The segment was previously reported as Artificial Intelligence, according to the company’s published definitions. Capital expenditures totaled $19.593 billion in the third quarter, including $16.444 billion of Super Intelligence capex, and reached $48.069 billion for the first nine months of 2026. SpaceX reported nameplate compute of 1.7 GW as of September 30, 2026, as it continued the buildout of COLOSSUS II. In commentary accompanying the quarterly results, the company said it is focused on capital efficiency, strong returns on invested capital, and maintaining a robust, investment-grade balance sheet.
Apollo, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and KKR are also among the six financial institutions that signed memorandums of understanding with NVIDIA to establish compute financing platforms, according to an NVIDIA announcement dated August 10, 2026. NVIDIA said the platforms are intended to mobilize over $500 billion of third-party capital for the buildout of AI infrastructure over time, and that the partnerships remained subject to execution of final agreements. Blackstone and Brookfield also signed the memorandums.
SpaceX’s entry into the master finance lease remains subject to specified closing conditions and is expected to close prior to year-end 2026, with lease schedules expected to commence upon delivery of the GPUs and related equipment in the first half of 2027, according to the filing and the announcement. The 8-K cautioned that the transaction may not close on the anticipated terms or timeline, or at all, and that actual equipment deliveries, lease terms or aggregate principal payments may differ from current expectations. The report was signed by Johnsen and dated October 26, 2026.
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