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SpaceX's $40 Billion Nvidia Chip Financing Gets Pricier as AI Credit Jitters Spread

October 25, 2026 · Category: Business & Tech

SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) is trying to close a $40 billion private debt deal to fund its AI buildout, and lenders are asking for more to provide it. Bloomberg reported Thursday that the planned financing to buy Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) chips through a special purpose vehicle was "roiled" by credit-market turmoil, sending price talks back to the drawing board (via Mint). Goldman Sachs is leading the talks with investors headed by Apollo Global Management, whose Atlas SP unit would manage the vehicle. Pimco is weighing whether to take part.

The deal would be split into three privately placed tranches, including a subordinated piece of $25 billion to $30 billion. A day earlier, Semafor reported that the lowest-rated portion was expected to yield about 8.3%. It said a safer, chip-backed portion was likely to price near 7.75% next week, more than a percentage point above where SpaceX's existing bonds trade. Semafor also reported that those bonds had weakened and that the cost of insuring SpaceX debt against default had risen.

The off-balance-sheet structure is intended to protect SpaceX's investment-grade ratings, which Bloomberg described as just a few notches above junk. It is also meant to avoid repeating last year's xAI sale-leaseback with Valor Equity Partners. Auditors ruled that arrangement a "failed" sale-leaseback, which forced SpaceX to record about $13 billion of the debt as its own, according to the company's earnings report. CFO Bret Johnsen said the company plans to keep borrowing "in a very measured fashion."

The financing comes amid a broader repricing of AI risk. Meta (NASDAQ: META) fell 7% Thursday after reporting negative free cash flow and higher capital spending. That day the Nasdaq posted its biggest drop in four months, Reuters reported. CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) and other neocloud stocks are down more than 30% in October, and credit default swaps on Nvidia, Meta and Oracle have hit record spreads, according to CNBC. On Friday, SpaceX shares rose 1% to 2% while Nvidia slipped less than 1%, Reuters said.

The irony is that SpaceX's AI business is performing well. Bloomberg noted that the unit turned its first profit last quarter by selling computing capacity from its Memphis data centers. The financing question is therefore about cost, not demand. If the deal closes at the reported yields, it would show what lenders now charge to fund AI expansion, just as Anthropic's IPO prospectus, which Reuters says is expected in the coming days, and next week's earnings from Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft put that market to another test.

Live ticker

Tickers: NASDAQ:SPCX, NASDAQ:NVDA, NASDAQ:META, NASDAQ:CRWV

Why it matters

The interest rate on the SpaceX deal is a public measure of what lenders currently charge to finance AI hardware. If SpaceX, an investment-grade borrower, has to pay more, weaker AI infrastructure companies will probably face even higher costs. This is reporting only, not investment advice.

Sources

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