SpaceX shares came under pressure on Thursday as investors braced for a wave of newly tradeable stock, with a separate financing plan for artificial intelligence hardware adding to the cautious mood. The stock closed the session at EUR 143.22, down 4.3%, ahead of a lockup release scheduled for Friday, October 9, that will free up as many as 328.4 million shares.
The looming expiry of contractual holding restrictions has stoked worries about a temporary oversupply of stock. When lockups lapse and large blocks become eligible for sale, market participants often trim positions preemptively, and that pattern appeared to play out in Thursday’s trading.
A Soft Backdrop for Tech
Broader conditions did little to help. The Nasdaq fell 1.3%, weighed down by weakness in the artificial intelligence sector along with uncertainty over oil prices and bond market yields, according to the Associated Press.
Against that unsettled backdrop, Susquehanna analyst Charles Minervino adjusted his valuation model on October 7, lifting his price target on SpaceX to $173 from $144 while keeping a neutral rating on the shares. The revision points to recognized upside, though the analyst’s stance suggests risks still carry weight.
Borrowing Plans Draw Scrutiny
The more consequential development for sentiment may be SpaceX’s reported plan to raise roughly $40 billion to acquire Nvidia chips. The package is expected to consist of about $30 billion in investment-grade bonds and $10 billion in bank loans, with Apollo Global Management leading the process, according to media reports.
That scale of debt has raised questions about future cash flows and capital discipline at a company whose appeal has rested largely on its operational dominance in rocket launches and the global build-out of its satellite network. Venturing deep into the hardware-intensive AI market would place SpaceX in an extremely costly competition — one that tests the conviction of investors who have long valued it as a pure space champion. With high interest rates and shifting yield expectations in bond markets, borrowing on this scale becomes a pricey undertaking, and concerns about rising interest costs have for now overshadowed the excitement over new AI business lines.
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Regulatory and Operational Momentum
The company’s core operations, by contrast, continue to advance. On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission granted approval to launch 15,000 satellites for direct-to-device connectivity and mobile satellite services, covering both supplementary services in the United States and offerings abroad. Under the approved plans, half of the constellation is to be in orbit by October 2032, with the full network completed by October 2035.
SpaceX is also expanding its communications footprint through a spectrum transaction involving up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum, which still requires formal approval from the FCC. Financial terms were not disclosed, according to Reuters. The low-band frequencies are intended to close existing coverage gaps for Starlink Mobile.
Launch activity has been brisk as well. A Falcon Heavy lifted off on October 1, completing the third Falcon rocket launch of that day, and the Crew-12 Dragon undocked from the International Space Station on Wednesday to return its crew to Earth. Separately, the Federal Aviation Administration opened a review process on September 29 for expanded Starship launches at Launch Complex 37.
Those operational wins, however, faded into the background as financing questions took center stage. The market’s reaction suggests SpaceX can no longer count on unconditional backing for every expensive expansion step. Tying space transport to massive AI computing power may hold long-term appeal, but until the terms of the borrowing package come into clearer focus, debt and capital allocation are likely to keep the shares under a cloud.
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