SpaceX’s segmented business financial report is revealed for the first time: only Starlink is profitable, and xAI burns nearly $14 billion a year

ME News Report, April 14 (UTC+8), a previously unreleased financial data of SpaceX’s business segments shows that among the company’s three main businesses, only the satellite internet service Starlink is generating cash, while rocket launches and AI are both burning money.

Last year, Starlink’s revenue was $11.4 billion, a 50% increase year-over-year, accounting for 61% of SpaceX’s total revenue. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, including stock-based compensation) was $7.2 billion, with a profit margin of 63%, higher than 50% in 2024 and 41% in 2023. After deducting capital expenditures, Starlink’s free cash flow was approximately $3 billion, making it the only profitable segment of SpaceX.

Rocket launch revenue was $4.1 billion, only an 8% increase, with free cash flow around negative $3 billion. Out of over 160 launches throughout the year, most were used to deploy Starlink satellites, with limited external customer market. The AI business (including social platform X and large model company xAI, which was acquired by SpaceX in February this year at a valuation of $250 billion) generated $3.2 billion in revenue, a 23% increase, but burned nearly $14 billion annually. For comparison, OpenAI and Anthropic burned about $9 billion and $4 billion respectively last year, with SpaceX’s AI segment exceeding their combined total. In terms of revenue scale and growth rate, xAI also lags far behind OpenAI and Anthropic.

The $3 billion free cash flow from Starlink is far from enough to offset the losses from the other two businesses. SpaceX’s total capital expenditure for the year was $20.7 billion, exceeding its total revenue. Overall free cash flow was approximately negative $14 billion. Previously reported by The Information, SpaceX posted a net loss of nearly $5 billion last year.

SpaceX’s recent valuation is $1.25 trillion, corresponding to 266 times EBITDA. Meta is at 16 times, Alphabet at 25 times, Nvidia at 36 times, and even Tesla, known for its high valuation, is only at 119 times. SpaceX plans to go public in June this year, which is expected to be the largest IPO in history. The core issue of this IPO is clear: can Starlink’s growth prospects sustain the massive losses of the other two business lines? (Source: Theinformation))