SpaceX lined up a $40 billion chip lease with Apollo for its AI buildout
The lease is committed but not closed, and the rate is still unset, even though Elon Musk had already called the financing 'closed' on X.
In brief
SpaceX commits to a $40 billion chip lease
Apollo's entity will buy AI chips and lease them to SpaceX. Leases start in early 2027. Closing is expected before year-end, and the interest rate is not yet set.
On Monday 26 October 2026, SpaceX said it had made a binding commitment to a master finance lease of about $40 billion with an entity managed by Apollo Global Management. We know this from Apollo's press release and from Reuters and Bloomberg reporting.
A finance lease works like renting with a long contract. Apollo's entity buys the chips and servers, and SpaceX pays to use them.
The numbers
- About $40 billion in total principal payments, per Reuters.
- Each lease runs a little over five years from delivery of the equipment.
- Leases are expected to begin in the first half of 2027, when the hardware arrives.
- Closing is expected before the end of 2026, subject to conditions.
Apollo and Goldman Sachs lead the group of lenders, and Goldman was sole structuring agent. Funds managed by BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and accounts advised by KKR, made anchor commitments.
What the hardware is
Apollo's release says the lease will supply NVIDIA's next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX's buildout of computing on the ground, meaning data centers. Reuters describes the purchase more generally as AI chips and server hardware. The Apollo release also mentions GPU pods and related equipment.
Why it matters
AI chips are expensive, and buying them outright drains cash. Leasing spreads the bill over years. SpaceX said the lease diversifies its funding and covers a notable portion of what it needs to put more compute online for Grok and for cloud customers.
The company also claimed payback periods of less than one year on its AI infrastructure investments. That is SpaceX's own statement, and the sources give no figures to check it.
Who said what
The sources differ on one point. On Sunday, Elon Musk wrote on X that SpaceX had "closed" $40 billion in debt financing. The company's own filing and Apollo's release describe a binding commitment with closing still ahead, not a finished lease.
Musk added that the money mainly targets chips arriving in the first and second quarters, so it would not matter much this quarter. CFO Bret Johnsen said fourth-quarter capital spending is still expected at $35 billion to $40 billion.
Fitch said SpaceX's BBB+ rating is unchanged.
The limits: the fixed interest rate will only be set at pricing, and closing depends on conditions. The sources do not show how many chips will be delivered. The SEC filing itself was not reviewed.