SpaceX could be earning half a trillion dollars a year as early as 2028, Elon Musk said

SpaceX is no longer just a rocket company. According to Elon Musk, as early as the coming months, revenue from artificial intelligence will surpass all other income at the company, and within a few years, AI will account for nearly all of its value, Space.com reports.

AI takes centre stage

Speaking to employees on 11 August, Musk said that AI revenue would likely exceed all of SpaceX's other income as early as September, and that in the fourth quarter it would significantly outpace them.

He emphasised that AI had become an extremely important part of SpaceX's future.

Earlier this year, SpaceX acquired the startup xAI, which Musk founded in 2023. The company created the Grok chatbot and operates the powerful Colossus supercomputer cluster in Tennessee. Musk now describes SpaceX's transition into an AI company as all but complete.

Where the hundreds of billions will come from

SpaceX currently has about 1.4 gigawatts of AI computing capacity, which it leases to technology firms and laboratories. By the end of next year, the company plans to bring 10 gigawatts to market.

Musk estimated that the price per watt would likely be between $30 and $50. He added that if they brought 10 gigawatts online by the end of next year, annual revenue would range from $300 to $500 billion.

In his estimation, within four to five years, artificial intelligence would account for 99% of SpaceX's value, and that value itself would become "astronomical."

Further plans

SpaceX has already announced the construction of a giant Terafab complex in Texas — a joint project with Tesla to produce advanced semiconductors. Looking ahead, the company intends to place one million Starmind AI satellites into low Earth orbit using the fully reusable Starship rocket.

In the more distant future, Musk envisions factories on the Moon producing off‑world data centres. Launching satellites from the lunar surface would be done using electromagnetic mass drivers.

In documents filed before its IPO, SpaceX estimated its total addressable market at $28.5 trillion, of which nearly $23 trillion was in the AI sector. By comparison, US GDP last year was about $30.8 trillion.

Not just money

Musk emphasised that the goal was not only profit. He said it was important to create an AI that would care about humanity and help it explore other planets and star systems.

He expressed his belief that the AI emerging from SpaceX would be a very good one, adding that SpaceX was a gathering of some of the best people on Earth both in ability and in morality and kindness.

Musk concluded by promising employees that in the future, anyone at the company who wished to do so would be able to travel to the Moon or Mars.

In brief

Elon Musk said that SpaceX's AI revenue would surpass all other company income as early as September 2026, and that by the end of next year, with 10 gigawatts of computing capacity online, it could reach $300–500 billion annually. Within 4–5 years, he said, AI would account for 99% of SpaceX's value. The company is developing Starmind satellites, joint chip production with Tesla, and is considering lunar factories in the longer term. Musk stressed that the goal is to create AI that benefits humanity and supports space exploration.