SpaceX is testing the debt market with a plan to raise about $40 billion to buy Nvidia chips, a move that would tie Elon Musk’s rocket company more tightly to the AI buildout now driving Wall Street’s biggest spending spree. The financing, first reported by Bloomberg and CNBC TV18, sent SpaceX shares down about 1.2% in US postmarket trading to $169.79, while Nvidia rose fractionally in after-hours trading. The response captures the market’s split-screen reaction: one company is paying up to expand its AI ambitions, while the other stands to benefit from the demand.
The proposed structure is roughly split between about $10 billion in bank loans and about $30 billion in investment-grade debt, according to the Financial Times, via multiple outlets. Apollo Global Management is leading the financing, with Pimco among the lenders in talks, per FT and Bloomberg. That matters because SpaceX holds a BBB credit rating, the second-lowest investment grade, which opens the door to pension and insurance buyers looking for higher-yielding corporate debt. But the deal is still in motion, and Bloomberg said the talks are at an early stage and could end without an agreement.
This is not a routine capital raise. The size alone puts the deal among the boldest financing attempts tied to the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom. It also shows how far the rush for chips has moved beyond public markets and into private-company balance sheets. SpaceX is already one of the world’s most closely watched private companies, but a multibillion-dollar borrowing plan tied directly to Nvidia would make its AI strategy a market event, not just a corporate one.
Musk has already made clear where SpaceX wants to go. On an August earnings call, he said, “We’ve decided to build exclusively on Nvidia because we think the Vera Rubin architecture is the best architecture.” He also said, “We think it’s the best AI computer, and we greatly value our close co-operation and partnership on many levels with Nvidia.” Those comments now read less like a technical preference and more like a financing roadmap. If SpaceX is indeed preparing to fund a chip buy at this scale, the company is putting real debt capacity behind that conviction.
The timing also reinforces the broader theme across tech and industrial infrastructure: AI spending is no longer confined to software firms. It is moving into every layer of the stack, from chips to data centers to power systems and, now, to private aerospace. Nvidia has become the emblem of that trade. SpaceX, meanwhile, is emerging as a customer willing to spend heavily to secure compute capacity for its own ambitions. The market is watching because Musk often turns one company’s strategic move into another company’s demand signal.
SpaceX’s BBB rating is the key unlock here. The rating is still investment grade, but just barely, which means the company can tap a broader universe of lenders than a junk-rated borrower could. That helps explain why Apollo is in the lead role and why pension and insurance capital could be relevant. For investors, the pitch is straightforward: lend against a highly visible private company that sits near the center of a powerful growth story, and do it at a scale big enough to matter.
Still, the fact that talks are early stage cuts both ways. Bloomberg said the negotiations could end without a deal, while the Financial Times said the financing is expected to close in 2027. Those views are not the same, and the gap is a reminder that financing plans often travel faster than final documents. For now, the only sure thing is that SpaceX is exploring an unusually large debt package and using its investment-grade status to see how much appetite the market has for the idea.
The immediate stock move was modest but telling. SpaceX fell about 1.2% in US postmarket trading to $169.79 after the FT report, according to Bloomberg and CNBC TV18. Nvidia rose about 0.5% in after-hours trading. That is not a huge reaction, but it fits the logic of the story. If SpaceX borrows to buy Nvidia chips, Nvidia gets another demand catalyst, while SpaceX takes on more financial risk to secure the hardware it wants.
This is the kind of news that can ripple beyond the two companies named in the headline. Chip suppliers, lenders, and even rival AI infrastructure builders will read it as a sign that the capital intensity of the sector is still climbing. When a company with SpaceX’s profile is willing to contemplate $40 billion in debt for chips, the market is being told that access to AI compute is not a side bet anymore. It is becoming a core strategic expense.
The next step is simple to describe and hard to execute: turn discussions into signed financing. Apollo is already at the center of the process, with Pimco among the lenders in talks, but no party involved has publicly confirmed the transaction. SpaceX, Nvidia, and Apollo did not immediately comment, and Pimco declined to comment, according to Bloomberg, Reuters, and other outlets. That silence leaves the story where many big-market deals live at first: in the tension between rumor, structure, and execution risk.
For Nvidia, the implications are obvious. For SpaceX, the question is whether the debt load is worth the strategic gain. The company appears to believe it is. Musk’s August comments suggested a deep commitment to Nvidia hardware, and this financing proposal would be the strongest evidence yet that SpaceX is prepared to pay for that commitment with leverage. If the deal gets done, it will mark another sign that AI demand is not slowing at the edges. It is moving straight onto the balance sheet.
