> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sotkn.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # SpaceX takes a $40B Apollo lease on GPUs due in 2027 - URL: https://www.sotkn.com/wire/spacex-40b-apollo-gpu-lease-2027-wire/ - Published: 2026-10-26T23:39:36.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-26T23:39:36.000Z - Description: SpaceX signed a binding commitment for a $40 billion master finance lease with an Apollo-managed vehicle for Nvidia Vera Rubin GPUs. Rent of a twentieth of each tranche a quarter starts only on delivery in the first half of 2027. - Author: Sean - Tags: #desk-wire `WIRE` · `NEOCLOUDS` · `UNITED STATES` · Data as at 26 Oct 2026 SpaceX has lined up about **$40 billion** to pay for Nvidia GPUs that have not been delivered yet. On **24 October** it signed a binding commitment for a master finance lease with an entity managed by Apollo. The Apollo vehicle buys the GPU pods and related equipment and leases them to SpaceX, tranche by tranche. Rent on each tranche starts only when its GPUs are delivered, which SpaceX expects in the first half of 2027\. On the [Neoclouds layer](https://www.sotkn.com/stack/neoclouds/), the same weekend Elon Musk said debt markets were closing on GPU renters. The lenders have not stopped funding GPUs. They have picked a borrower whose cash does not all come from renting them. ## What happened The lease **About $40 billion of principal over the lease terms, for Nvidia Vera Rubin GPUs and related equipment** Binding commitment signed 24 October, disclosed in a Form 8-K on 26 October. Expected to close before the end of 2026 The lenders **Led by Apollo, with Goldman Sachs as sole structuring agent** BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and capital accounts advised by KKR made anchor commitments The rent **Paid quarterly in advance: one-twentieth of each tranche's cost, plus a fixed rate on the balance** Each tranche runs about five to five and a quarter years from delivery. The fixed rate is not set yet The other side **CoreWeave's 2033 bonds and Nebius's 2034 bonds were at record lows on 26 October** After Musk said 200-plus neoclouds face consolidation and failures, and that SpaceX would not buy any of them ## Why cash cares A finance lease is borrowing in another form. The lender owns the GPUs, SpaceX uses them, and the rent repays the cost with interest. Under this deal the rent is front-loaded and fast. Each quarter SpaceX pays one-twentieth of a tranche's cost, so the principal is repaid in about five years. The lender is paid back while the chips are still in use, rather than relying on what they might fetch later. SpaceX can carry that because of where its cash comes from. In the third quarter its Super Intelligence segment, the compute and AI business, brought in **$7.6 billion** of the group's **$14.6 billion** of revenue and **$5.0 billion** of segment adjusted EBITDA. Starlink and launch made up the rest. At 30 September it held **$89.9 billion** of cash and marketable securities against **$39.0 billion** of debt and finance leases. Its nameplate compute reached **1.7 GW**, up from **0.6 GW** a year earlier, and its capital spending on that segment was **$16.4 billion** in the quarter alone. SpaceX's finance chief said the company sees payback periods of less than a year on that infrastructure. That is the company's claim, not a figure in its filings. Here is our own arithmetic, not a company figure. At full size the lease means about **$2.0 billion** of principal a quarter, or **$8 billion** a year, before interest. That is about **40%** of the AI segment's third-quarter adjusted EBITDA. The $40 billion is about **2.4 quarters** of that segment's capital spending at the third-quarter pace, about **45%** of SpaceX's cash and securities, and slightly more than all the debt and finance leases it carried at 30 September. Interest is still open. Because the balance falls by a twentieth each quarter, it averages about **$19 billion** over the term, so every percentage point of rate costs about **$190 million** a year. ![SpaceX's $40 billion GPU lease set against its own balance sheet at 30 September 2026](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/10/cd10e222-131f-4ba4-b4a9-ca4214e8c12d/content/images/2026/10/spacex-40b-gpu-lease-vs-balance-sheet-print.png) **Figure: A lease the size of the balance sheet.** The $40 billion of lease principal against SpaceX's cash, debt, commitments and AI capital spending at 30 September 2026, with the quarterly principal it implies. The per-quarter, percentage and ratio figures are our arithmetic on SpaceX's Form 8-K, third-quarter results release and Form 10-Q. ## The step that is still open Delivery. No rent is owed on a tranche until its GPU pods arrive, and SpaceX expects that during the first half of 2027\. Until then the money waits on three things. The deal has to close, which SpaceX expects before the end of the year. The fixed rate has to be priced. And the Vera Rubin pods have to be built, shipped and installed in halls that SpaceX picks and has to power. Its filing does not say how many GPUs the $40 billion buys, which data centers they go to, or how the tranches are spread across 2027. It also lands on a busy 2027\. SpaceX already had **$25.6 billion** of non-cancelable commitments falling due that year at 30 September, mostly for AI infrastructure and cloud capacity. The lease is extra. ## The second-order read **Who gets paid.** Nvidia and the makers of the pods and related equipment, when the Apollo vehicle buys each tranche. Apollo, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and the KKR-advised accounts, through a fixed rate and a fast return of principal, with the GPUs as their asset. Goldman, as structuring agent. **Who pays.** SpaceX, every quarter in advance from the day each tranche is delivered, out of AI segment cash backed by Starlink and launch revenue. **Who waits.** Everyone, until the GPUs arrive in the first half of 2027\. And the neoclouds, which rent out GPUs with no other business behind them. On the same day, the bonds of CoreWeave and Nebius hit record lows. **Stuck step.** Getting the Vera Rubin pods delivered into powered halls on time, so that $2 billion a quarter of rent is matched by compute that is earning. ## Three cautions The $40 billion is principal paid over five years or more. It is not a single cash payment or a one-year capital spending figure, and interest comes on top. The lease is not closed. It is a binding commitment with closing conditions, and the rate is not yet set. The payback claim is the company's own. SpaceX does not disclose returns per GPU, and the AI segment includes model and software revenue as well as rented compute. ## What to watch - **Before year-end**: whether the lease closes, and the fixed rate it prices at. - **First half of 2027**: the first tranches delivered, and the first quarterly rent payments in SpaceX's filings. - **Fourth-quarter results**: AI segment capital spending, nameplate compute and how much of the lease has started. - **The neoclouds**: whether CoreWeave or Nebius can raise GPU financing on similar terms in their next results. *Read: [finance lease vs operating lease](https://www.sotkn.com/explained/finance-lease-vs-operating-lease/), [who are the neoclouds](https://www.sotkn.com/explained/who-are-the-neoclouds/), [Nebius takes a $3.5B, 364-day Citi bridge to fund GPUs](https://www.sotkn.com/wire/nebius-3-5b-citi-364-day-bridge-gpus-wire/) and [CoreWeave default swaps top 1,000 bp](https://www.sotkn.com/wire/coreweave-cds-1000-bp-gartner-neocloud-shakeout-wire/)* --- **Get the Wire.** A free brief every day, here and in your inbox. **[Subscribe free →](https://www.sotkn.com/#/portal/signup)** Not investment advice. Do your own research. The $2.0 billion a quarter, $8 billion a year, $19 billion average balance and $190 million per percentage point figures, the 40% and 45% figures, and the 2.4 quarters ratio are our arithmetic. ## References 1. [Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Form 8-K (master finance lease commitment)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000110465926118614/tm2628247d1%5F8k.htm?ref=sotkn.com), 26 Oct 2026\. Lease structure, rent, term, $40 billion principal and timing. 2. [SpaceX, "SpaceX secures $40 billion in the largest GPU financing ever"](https://ir.spacex.com/updates/releases-details/2026/SPACEX-SECURES-40-BILLION-IN-THE-LARGEST-GPU-FINANCING-EVER-2026-EnDqGhTAB3/?ref=sotkn.com), 26 Oct 2026\. Vera Rubin, lenders and CFO comment. 3. [SpaceX, third quarter 2026 results release (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026066482/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm?ref=sotkn.com), 20 Oct 2026\. Segment revenue, EBITDA, capital spending, compute, cash and debt. 4. [SpaceX, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 September 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026066880/spcx-20260930.htm?ref=sotkn.com), 22 Oct 2026\. Debt and non-cancelable commitments. 5. [Reuters, "Musk's warning hits neocloud stocks as debt concerns mount"](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/musks-warning-hits-neocloud-stocks-as-debt-concerns-mount-4972444?ref=sotkn.com), 26 Oct 2026. 6. [TechCrunch, "SpaceX locks in $40B GPU financing deal with Apollo"](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/26/spacex-locks-in-40b-gpu-financing-deal-with-apollo/?ref=sotkn.com), 26 Oct 2026.