W.017SpaceX’s $40B chip lease is as large as all its debt, and its rent can’t pause
Goldman Sachs and Apollo are in talks to sell pieces of the about $40B financing behind SpaceX’s lease of Nvidia Rubin chips, Bloomberg reported. The debt and a $7B prepayment fund about $47.3B of equipment, so lenders cover 85% of its cost. The lease is about the size of SpaceX’s $39.0B of debt and finance leases at September 30, and at about 1/20 of cost a quarter, principal alone would run about $8B a year once all of it is delivered.
Lenders fund 85% of the equipment; SpaceX prepays $7B
How about $47.3B of GPU equipment is paid for, $B, from Bloomberg’s November 4 report. The loan, the prepayment and the equipment total are reported; the bond tranches are the difference, $47.3B − $7.0B − $8.3B, not a reported figure. No rate has been disclosed.
The terms
The deal is committed, not closed. SpaceX signed a binding commitment letter on October 24 to enter an approximately $40B master finance lease of GPUs and related equipment with an entity managed by Apollo, according to its 8-K as summarized by StockTitan; Apollo said on October 26 that it expects closing before the end of 2026, subject to conditions. On November 4, Bloomberg reported that Goldman and Apollo were approaching investors to sell portions of the financing, asking some to take slices of up to $500M before formal syndication, which it said was expected to start soon. Bloomberg said investors agreed to the package before it priced; no rate has been reported.
SpaceX’s rent can’t stop, whatever happens to the chips. According to Bloomberg, a special purpose vehicle managed by Apollo-backed Atlas SP buys the chips and issues the debt, and SpaceX rents them for five years. There is no residual value guarantee, and SpaceX cannot use force majeure to pause rent; an investor document quoted by Bloomberg says rent is owed “regardless of equipment condition, casualty or force majeure.” Bloomberg described the structure as sitting off SpaceX’s balance sheet; the 8-K and Apollo call it a finance lease. The rent, per StockTitan’s summary of the 8-K, is paid quarterly in advance and generally includes 1/20 of each tranche’s cost plus interest at a fixed rate set at pricing, which has not been disclosed, and certain ongoing costs. With no residual value guarantee, what the chips are worth at the end of the lease is the lenders’ risk.
The largest committed GPU financing, Apollo says
Reported size of AI chip and data center financings, $B, by announcement or pricing date. Sizes are as reported: the SpaceX, Anthropic and Meta figures are debt; xAI’s includes about $7.5B of equity; CoreWeave’s is a facility. Meta’s Hyperion bond funds a data center campus, not chips. The Anthropic deal had Broadcom residual value support on its senior notes, per Bloomberg; Bloomberg reports none for SpaceX.
Against SpaceX’s balance sheet
The lease alone is about as large as everything SpaceX owed. SpaceX’s 10-Q shows $38.0B of debt and $39.0B including finance leases at September 30, against $89.9B of cash, equivalents and short-term investments, according to StockTitan’s reading of the filing. Its earlier chip leases with Valor accounted for $12.9B of debt, up from $4.5B at the end of 2025, and for about $351M of the $675M of third-quarter interest expense, which excludes capitalized interest. Third-quarter spending on property and equipment was $19.6B.
The rate is the open number. At about 1/20 of cost a quarter, principal on $40B comes to about $2B a quarter, or $8B a year, once every tranche is delivered and before interest. StockTitan estimates that each percentage point of interest adds about $1B over the life of the lease. Bloomberg reported on October 23 that yields on the subordinated tranche had earlier been discussed in the mid-8% range and were being renegotiated as credit markets turned; no rate has been reported since.
The lease beside SpaceX’s cash, debt and spending
SpaceX at September 30, 2026, $B, from its 10-Q as reported by StockTitan, and the new lease at its reported size. Capital spending is for the third quarter. The lease is not yet closed and its schedules start on delivery in 2027, so it is not in the September debt figure.
What this changes on 06.ai
- Pack lead (who funds the labs; can markets fund the AI buildout): SpaceX’s Rubin lease is a ~$40B debt-funded addition for 2027 that the packs’ funding mix should carry as lease financing, separate from SpaceX’s bonds and IPO proceeds.
- Series lead: GPU lease and SPV financings by size, structure and protection (residual guarantees, backstops), as they price. SpaceX’s fixed rate, when set, is the first data point to add.
Sources and method
| Item | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Syndication | Goldman and Apollo approaching investors to sell portions of the about $40B financing; multiple tranches including an $8.3B senior secured loan led by Goldman; bond tranches with Apollo as key investor and Pimco participating; debt plus a $7B lease prepayment fund about $47.3B of GPU equipment, mainly Nvidia Rubin, for delivery in the first half of 2027; five-year rental; no residual value guarantee; rent cannot be paused for force majeure; slices of up to $500M offered before formal syndication; structured to sit off SpaceX’s balance sheet through an SPV managed by Apollo-backed Atlas SP | Bloomberg, via Yahoo Finance, Nov 4 |
| Commitment | Binding commitment to enter an approximately $40B master finance lease of GPUs and related equipment with an Apollo-managed entity; Nvidia Vera Rubin chips; closing expected before year-end 2026, subject to conditions; schedules start on delivery, expected in the first half of 2027; Goldman sole structuring agent; anchor commitments from BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and KKR-advised accounts | Apollo, Oct 26 |
| 8-K and 10-Q | Commitment letter signed Oct 24; rent quarterly in advance, generally about 1/20 of each tranche’s cost plus a fixed rate set at pricing; schedules about 5 to 5.25 years; debt $38.0B and debt plus finance leases $39.0B at Sep 30; Valor lease debt $12.9B ($4.5B at Dec 31, 2025); cash and short-term investments $89.9B; Q3 spending on equipment and buildings $19.6B; Q3 interest expense $675M excluding capitalized interest, about $351M from Valor; about $1B of lease interest per point of rate (StockTitan’s estimate) | StockTitan, Oct 26–28 |
| October talks | Before signing: privately placed bond tranches, with subordinated yields earlier discussed in the mid-8% range and being renegotiated | Bloomberg, via Investing.com, Oct 23 |
| Anthropic | About $36B of debt for an SPV that buys Google TPUs and leases them to Anthropic, arranged by Apollo and Blackstone, with Broadcom residual value support on about $31B of senior debt | Bloomberg Law, May 28 |
| Meta | Beignet Investor (Hyperion campus) $27.3B senior secured bond, priced Oct 2025 | IFR |
| xAI | $20B SPV, about $7.5B equity and up to $12.5B debt, buying Nvidia chips to rent to xAI for five years | Bloomberg, via The Edge, Oct 2025 |
| CoreWeave lender | CoreWeave raises $8.5B GPU loan backed by Meta deal | Bloomberg, Mar 31 |
| CoreWeave | $8.5B delayed-draw term loan secured by assets and a customer contract, closed March 2026; Bloomberg reported the contract is Meta’s | CoreWeave, Mar 2026 |
Funding: $47.3B − $7.0B prepayment = $40.3B, consistent with “about $40B” of debt; less the $8.3B loan leaves about $32.0B for the bond tranches, a difference, not a reported figure. Loan to cost: $40B ÷ $47.3B = 84.6%. Principal: $40B × 1/20 = $2B a quarter, × 4 = $8B a year, assuming every tranche is delivered and the 1/20 applies to the full amount; per StockTitan’s summary of the 8-K, rent “generally” includes it. 06.ai did not read the 8-K or the 10-Q directly; their figures are as summarized by StockTitan.
Scale: $40B ÷ $39.0B = 1.03×; ÷ $89.9B = 44%; against Anthropic’s about $36B, 11% larger; added to September’s debt and finance leases, about $79.0B, an illustration only, since the lease starts on delivery. Valor interest share: $351M ÷ $675M = 52%. Comparison deal sizes are as first reported and may differ from final amounts.
Wire reports are written within hours of the news, on a six-hour schedule. Each lists its sources and shows the arithmetic behind its figures. Not investment advice.