SpaceX raising $40B in debt to fund blockbuster Nvidia chip order, with Apollo leading the financing

SpaceX Raising $40B in Debt to Fund Nvidia Chip Blitz

SpaceX is raising $40 billion—$10 billion in bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade debt—to fund a major Nvidia chip purchase. Apollo is leading the financing effort, with PIMCO among lenders in talks. The structure opens SpaceX's debt to insurance and pension funds, given its BBB credit rating (the second-lowest investment-grade tier).

Elon Musk has publicly committed to building exclusively on Nvidia architecture for AI initiatives, calling Vera Rubin "the best architecture" and signaling the company's reliance on the chipmaker in the near term. The move strengthens ties between SpaceX and Nvidia as the semiconductor company faces growing competition from rivals.

The memo problem

Investors who approached SpaceX about the financing received a two-page deal memo featuring pictures of outer space and an arrow indicating the company would build data centers. One investor quoted in the reporting said the minimalist pitch—lacking typical financial detail—made it difficult to present to an investment committee. The sparse documentation underscores how much credit markets are willing to extend on Elon Musk's track record alone.

Underwriting the deal doesn't require Nvidia's glossy S-1 imagery. SpaceX's existing BBB rating provides a baseline. SEC filings offer operational detail. The sticking point is intent: whether SpaceX plans to monetize the chips by selling compute capacity to external AI labs or deploy them for internal use. That distinction materially affects credit risk and should land in any serious investment memo.