NEW YORK—SpaceX shares fell sharply on Wednesday after the company’s first quarterly earnings report as a publicly traded company highlighted continued heavy spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure, overshadowing strong revenue growth and new commercial contract wins.
The stock dropped about 9% in premarket trading, slipping below its $135 initial public offering price, as investors focused on the scale of capital expenditures needed to expand the company’s AI business alongside its Starship and Starlink operations.
SpaceX reported second-quarter capital expenditures of $18.4 billion, with a substantial portion directed toward AI infrastructure. The company said AI-related revenue tripled from a year earlier to $2.6 billion and disclosed that it had signed $6.7 billion in additional cloud computing contracts since the end of the quarter. Executives said recently deployed computing infrastructure is generating returns in less than a year and argued that the AI business is beginning to fund its own expansion.
Despite the revenue growth, the AI segment remains unprofitable and contributed to continued negative free cash flow, according to the company's results. Analysts said investors remain concerned about whether future revenue growth can keep pace with elevated capital spending.
The earnings release marked SpaceX's first financial report since its June stock market debut. The results offered investors their first detailed look at the finances of the company’s launch, satellite internet and AI businesses following one of the year's most closely watched initial public offerings.
Trading in the shares remained volatile as investors assessed the company’s long-term growth strategy against the near-term financial impact of its aggressive investment program. Further market reaction is expected as investors continue to evaluate the earnings report and management's outlook.
