SpaceX’s $40 Billion Chip Debt Push Raises the Stakes for AI Leverage
SpaceX’s $40 Billion Chip Debt Push Raises the Stakes for AI Leverage
SpaceX is reportedly lining up a $40 billion debt package to buy Nvidia chips, a move that would turn one of the market’s hottest technology trades into a major test of creditors’ appetite for AI-linked leverage.
The proposed financing, with Apollo Global Management said to be leading the process, would be split between roughly $30 billion of investment-grade debt and $10 billion in bank loans. The plan arrives as big technology companies continue to spend aggressively on computing capacity despite higher interest rates and fresh warnings that AI investment could be inflating a debt bubble.
The timing is striking. SpaceX shares rose nearly 16% over the previous week to close at $171.92, above the company’s $135 IPO price and its initial $150 post-listing trades. Nvidia, whose chips are at the centre of the proposed purchase, also reached a record high, valuing the company at about $5.65 trillion.
For lenders, the case rests on SpaceX’s BBB credit rating, which could open the deal to insurance companies and pension funds. But the company’s longer-dated bonds offer a reminder that credit investors are not treating its debt as risk-free: bonds due in 2056 were trading near 85 cents on the dollar, yielding about 2.27 percentage points more than comparable US Treasuries — a spread described as similar to junk-bond levels.
That gap captures the central tension. The AI buildout is creating demand for enormous sums of capital; the question is whether debt markets will keep treating that expansion as investment-grade before the returns are proven.
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