AI news · Tuesday, October 20, 2026

SpaceX earnings surge as AI revenue overtakes its core Starlink business

SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings report confirms the company is shifting its gravity away from space and toward AI, with its 'Super Intelligence' segment reporting $7. 6 billion in revenue—officially outpacing the $5. 2 billion earned by its Starlink connectivity business.

The company reported $16. 4 billion in AI-related capital expenditure for the quarter, a massive spend that leadership expects to nearly double to $35-$40 billion next quarter as they rush to deploy more compute. During a cinematic, livestreamed earnings call, Elon Musk noted that chips are no longer the bottleneck, but rather the power and cooling infrastructure required to run the heavy-duty compute projects like Colossus II.

This push for AI dominance is global; Samsung is currently rushing to finish a sprawling semiconductor manufacturing complex in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, to feed the insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory chips that power these systems. Despite this industry-wide scramble, the market remains jumpy. A neocloud firm in South Korea, Elice, saw its shares plummet 32% during its market debut on Tuesday, triggering a sell-off that rippled into major US chip stocks like Nvidia, Intel, and AMD.

Economists warn that debt-fueled expansion among smaller infrastructure providers is a growing risk, noting that while the hyperscalers like Microsoft and Google have deep pockets, smaller firms taking on leverage to compete are increasingly exposed if demand plateaus. Political pressure is also mounting, as the U. S.

government ordered federal agencies to strip out DeepSeek AI, a Chinese startup, citing national security concerns and fears that sensitive data could reach Chinese authorities. Elsewhere, the AI integration trend continues unabated. Google is embedding its Gemini AI into vehicle infotainment systems to pull personalized data from your emails and calendar, while Adobe’s Lightroom mobile app now allows users to fix closed eyes in photos using a single generative AI tap.

Even the moon is getting the treatment, as Astrolab’s upcoming lunar rover is set to become the first vehicle to run LLMs on the lunar surface to assist with autonomous navigation. The drive toward 'personal agents' is seeing real-world utility, too, with Cisco president Jeetu Patel reporting that he successfully used AI agents to audit and cancel $9,000 worth of his recurring yearly subscriptions.

The quick hits

SpaceX's AI segment now brings in more revenue than Starlink — a major pivot as the company shifts from being a rocket firm to a massive AI infrastructure player.
South Korean cloud firm Elice plunged 32% in its market debut — a sign that investors are cooling on the debt-fueled expansion of AI infrastructure startups.
Google is adding 'Personal Intelligence' to its in-car Gemini AI — an attempt to lock users into its ecosystem by letting the car read your emails and calendar.
Cisco's president used AI agents to automatically cancel $9,000 worth of his unused annual subscriptions — showing how agents are moving from chatbots to active personal assistants.

SpaceX earnings surge as AI revenue overtakes its core Starlink business

The quick hits

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