SpaceX Seeks $40 Billion in Apollo-Led Financing to Buy Nvidia Chips
SpaceX is reportedly aiming to raise $40 billion in a massive financing round led by Apollo Global Management to fund the large-scale acquisition of Nvidia AI chips.
SpaceX, the space and AI technology company owned by Elon Musk, is working to raise $40 billion in a comprehensive financing round led by private equity group Apollo Global Management, the Financial Times reported. According to the report, the purpose of the fundraising is to finance a massive acquisition of Nvidia chips as part of the company's expanding bet on the chipmaker's advanced technology.
Financing Structure and Partners
According to sources familiar with the matter, SpaceX is seeking to raise approximately $10 billion through bank loans, alongside another $30 billion in investment-grade debt. Apollo is expected to lead the transaction and help distribute the debt to a broad base of investors, while bond group PIMCO is also among a small group of lenders that held talks to finance the move. The deal itself is expected to close during 2027.
"We decided to build exclusively on Nvidia because we believe it will provide us with the best AI computer, and we deeply value our partnership and close collaboration with them on many levels," Musk said during the company's earnings call in August.
Market Context and Risks
SpaceX's aggressive financing plan illustrates the astronomical sums currently being raised in markets to fund investments in data centers, chips, and AI infrastructure. Thanks to the company's credit rating, which stands at BBB (the second lowest in the investment-grade category), even conservative institutional bodies such as pension funds and insurance companies—which avoid holding significant positions in junk-rated bonds—will be able to purchase the company's corporate bonds.
However, the debt market is quick to remember past volatility. SpaceX secured an investment-grade rating shortly after its $86 billion initial public offering in June, selling $25 billion in high-grade bonds less than two weeks later. Yet those bonds suffered price drops in the days following, amid investor concerns over heavy debt growth and soaring capital expenditures. Today, the company's bonds maturing in 2056 trade at around 85 cents on the dollar, with a yield of about 2.27 percentage points above U.S. government bonds—a yield level similar to that of junk bonds.
