SpaceX agrees hardware lease with about $40bn in expected payments

SpaceX has agreed to lease data-centre hardware, including chips for superintelligence (SI), from an entity managed by Apollo Global Management, with roughly $40 billion in expected payments. SpaceX disclosed a binding financing commitment on 26 October, but expects the transaction to close by the end of 2026, subject to closing conditions.

The Guardian said on 26 October that the equipment would be used in data centres selected by SpaceX. The filing followed Elon Musk’s statement on 25 October that SpaceX had “closed $40B of debt for GPUs”. GPUs are graphics processing units. The binding commitment disclosed by SpaceX is distinct from a completed closing.

How the lease will work

Under the agreement, the Apollo-managed entity will buy the chips and related server hardware, then lease them to SpaceX. TechCrunch said on 26 October that SpaceX’s filing sets individual lease terms at about five to five-and-a-quarter years, beginning when each batch of equipment is delivered.

Apollo said the financing would help deliver Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin chips for SpaceX’s ground-based computing expansion. That identifies the planned chips, while the transaction itself still awaits closing.

SpaceX expects the leases to start in the first half of 2027 as the GPUs and related equipment arrive. Delivery will therefore determine when each lease begins.