SpaceX Q2: revenue up 92%, Starlink at 12 million, and capex more than twice revenue
Revenue beat by roughly a billion dollars and the stock fell after hours. The number that decided it was on the spending line, not the revenue line.
SpaceX reported its first quarterly results as a public company. Revenue reached $7.8 billion, up 92% year over year and roughly $1 billion ahead of the consensus that had settled near $6.8 billion going in. Net loss narrowed to $541 million, or $0.09 per share. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $3.54 billion.
Shares rose sharply into the print and then sold off after hours.
Starlink is now a real subscription business
Connectivity delivered $4.3 billion in revenue, up 66%, and $1.66 billion in operating income, up 79%. Operating income growing faster than revenue is the part that matters: the segment is scaling rather than buying growth.
Subscribers reached 12 million at quarter-end, double the year-ago level and up 1.7 million sequentially, with ARPU stable at $66. Stable ARPU alongside that much subscriber growth means the additions are not being bought with discounting. Enterprise and government revenue within the segment more than doubled.
The capex line is what moved the stock
AI revenue surged approximately 250% to $2.56 billion. Group capital expenditure hit $18.4 billion, the large majority directed at AI infrastructure, and management indicated elevated spending continues for several more quarters.
Set those against each other. Capex ran more than twice revenue and over five times adjusted EBITDA in a single quarter. Starlink generates real cash now, and it does not generate it at that scale. The gap between what the connectivity business throws off and what the AI and Starship programs consume is the central financial fact of this company, and this quarter widened it rather than closing it.
That is why a billion-dollar revenue beat did not hold. The growth was never seriously in question. The funding path is.
The lockup adds a second timer
The after-hours reaction also carried the approaching lockup expiration. Spending at this rate against an approaching increase in free float is a different risk profile than spending at this rate with a locked register.
Going in, the question was whether the first disclosure would justify the post-IPO drawdown or reverse it. It did neither cleanly: the operating business came in ahead, and the capital plan came in heavier.
Reported figures from the company's own results. Educational content, not financial advice.