Elon Musk’s firm seeks substantial debt backing as tech majors race to finance soaring capital expenditure for AI infrastructure.
SpaceX is in discussions with major banks and asset managers to raise $40 billion to fund the purchase of advanced Nvidia artificial intelligence processors. The Elon Musk-led aerospace and satellite giant is reportedly negotiating with asset management firm PIMCO and private equity firm Apollo to anchor and distribute the debt package.
The proposed deal comprises $10 billion in commercial bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade debt. The massive capital raise highlights the eye-watering financial requirements driving the global AI race, as technology firms rush to build out next-generation data centres and compute clusters. Morgan Stanley estimates that AI infrastructure will require $1.5 trillion in external debt and equity financing globally by 2028.
Musk, who took SpaceX public in June following a record $86 billion initial public offering, previously confirmed that the group’s xAI Colossus 2 data centre could more than double its Nvidia chip inventory by December. Musk reiterated that SpaceX intends to rely exclusively on Nvidia hardware across its expanding data centre network.
Following the reports, shares in SpaceX dipped 2 per cent in early US trading, while Nvidia stock gained 0.5 per cent. The transaction builds on a broader trend of private capital funding AI hardware build-outs, following Nvidia’s partnerships with institutional managers including Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR to mobilise over $500 billion for AI infrastructure deployments.
