Sources: SpaceX is seeking to raise $40B, including ~$10B in bank loans and ~$30B in investment-grade debt, to purchase Nvidia chips, in a deal led by Apollo

Blockbuster debt deal is the latest sign of the vast spending on chips and other infrastructure underpinning AI

Financial Times 2026-10-07

Context & Ripple Effects

SpaceX had already planned a $20B bond sale to refinance bridge debt tied to the xAI merger, while xAI had previously sought external financing for Nvidia hardware. The proposed package extends that funding path from refinancing and smaller chip-leasing structures into a far larger, dedicated compute purchase.

Apollo is not a new entrant to the trade: it was nearing a $3.4B loan for a Valor-led vehicle to lease Nvidia chips to xAI, and Nvidia later assembled a $500B AI-infrastructure funding group including Apollo and other large capital managers. The same financiers and supplier are increasingly connected across the compute buildout.

First-order effects

SpaceX would add roughly $40B of financing capacity for Nvidia chips, split between bank loans and investment-grade debt, with Apollo leading the proposed arrangement.
Apollo would move from backing chip-leasing finance to arranging a much larger debt package for a direct SpaceX hardware purchase, if the financing closes.

Second-order effects

Nvidia gains a prospective large buyer whose purchase is financed through capital markets rather than solely from operating cash flow, deepening the link between chip demand and credit availability.
Banks and investment-grade debt investors would be asked to underwrite AI infrastructure at a scale beyond the earlier $20B SpaceX refinancing plan, making terms on this deal a consequential reference point for comparable financings.

Third-order effects

The proposed structure points to a compute capital stack in which hardware demand is increasingly funded by layered bank, bond, and private-credit arrangements rather than by equity alone.
If repeated across AI buyers, the financing capacity of credit markets—not only chip supply or venture funding—will shape which operators can sustain large-scale compute deployments.

The trend: AI infrastructure is becoming a credit-financed asset class, with chip purchases increasingly routed through bespoke debt structures led by major alternative-asset managers.

Discussion

@okane.fyi Sean O'Kane on bluesky
SpaceX is basically daring lenders to pony up $40 billion so it can buy Nvidia chips on what sounds like a cocktail napkin — www.ft.com/content/d3f5... [image]
r/wallstreetbets r on reddit
SpaceX looks to raise $40bn to buy Nvidia chips in financing led by Apollo
@lihong062 Lihong on x
suggested at dinner that valuations may be stretched right now (didn't even used the b-word) and got told that my lack of faith was disturbing
@cosmic_andrew1 Andrew on x
Lmao
@sindap Sujeet Indap on x
Moody's and S&P rated this company as investment grade and its debt is going to be all over retirement and annuity accounts:
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
Why isn't this closing until 2027?
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
Bahahahahahhaah
@lewjackk Lewis Jackson on x
Investors “received a short two-page deal memo with pictures of outer space and an arrowing point out that the company was going to build data centers ‘somewhere in the universe’ Amazing detail on the SpaceX financing in the FT https://www.ft.com/...
@annmarie Annmarie Hordern on x
FT: Elon Musk's SpaceX is seeking to raise $40bn to purchase Nvidia chips as the AI and rocket group amplifies its bet on the chipmaker's advanced technology.
@kakashiii111 @kakashiii111 on x
SpaceX raised $100B as of the end of June 2026, and yet they look to borrow $40 billion, just less than 4 months after having such an amount, to buy more Nvidia chips? Nothing surprising. Elon is not rational when it comes to spending money and buying chips. Buy chips first, buil…
@mark_k Mark Kretschmann on x
SpaceX is reportedly seeking $40 BILLION just to buy Nvidia chips. 🔥 That's hardware alone, before the electricity, cooling and facilities needed to run it. According to Reuters, citing the Financial Times, Apollo is arranging roughly $10 billion in bank loans and another $30 bil…
@alexgibneyfilm Alex Gibney on x
Note: @elonmusk is trying to raise $40 billion in debt to buy NVIDIA chips. Here's the sloppy stoner way he makes his pitch: (from the FT)
@staunovo Giovanni Staunovo on x
SpaceX looks to raise $40bn to buy Nvidia chips in financing led by Apollo Blockbuster debt deal is the latest sign of the vast spending on chips and other infrastructure underpinning AI https://www.ft.com/...
@cb_doge @cb_doge on x
BREAKING: SpaceX is reportedly looking to raise $40 billion to buy NVIDIA chips in financing led by Apollo. The planned package includes $10B in bank loans and $30B in investment-grade debt, as per Financial Times. There is no confirmation from Elon Musk and SpaceX on this yet.
@gradientintern @gradientintern on x
so $40 billion out of $690 billion projection from $NVDA will be from $SPCX at least with this debt raise. did SpaceX already allocate the $75 billion from ipo + $10 billion from greenshoe? rip consumer tech after the rest of the AI IPOs kek
@the_ai_investor @the_ai_investor on x
SPCX, NVDA: $40B financing led by Apollo to buy Nvidia chips + SpaceX plans to raise $40B to buy Nvidia AI chips, per the Financial Times via Reuters on Oct 6. The plan is about $10B in bank loans plus $30B in investment grade debt, led by Apollo, with Pimco among the lenders in …
@jg_nuke @jg_nuke on x
Another $40 billion borrowed from somebody's retirement to pay for datacenters...innnnnn spaaaaace!!!
@rohanpaul_ai Rohan Paul on x
Bloomberg: SpaceX is in early talks to borrow $40B for Nvidia chips, with Apollo Global Management leading. The package would pair about $10B in bank loans with $30B of investment-grade debt and should close in 2027, according to the Financial Times. Musk has earlier said SpaceX …
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@herbertong @thejefflutz No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that. Maybe TSMC subleases part of the Terafab if they want, but nothing more than that.
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@wholemars Just discussions, but something may come of it
@the_ai_investor @the_ai_investor on x
Lol so all of the tsmc related rumors are false
@mzuhair123 Muhammad Zuhair on x
Nothing surprising here. The TSMC-TeraFab talk rumors were based on the wrong idea, which doesn't support Elon's ambitions of vertically integrating the supply chain. Intel's the primary partner, let there be no confusion in it.

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