Just days after investors punished Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) over its soaring AI spending, sentiment has flipped.
The company’s shares have staged a sharp rebound since their Aug. 6 low, fueled by an unusual combination of factors: a major insider lock-up expiry that passed without the feared wave of selling, a company-wide meeting where CEO Elon Musk doubled down on an AI-centric future, and growing confidence that SpaceX’s long-term story extends far beyond rockets.
Together, they are prompting investors to reassess whether the recent sell-off went too far.
Musk’s AI Vision Is Reframing the SpaceX Story
At a company-wide all-hands meeting this week, Musk outlined an ambitious vision that positioned artificial intelligence—not launch services—as the company’s next major growth engine.
Among his boldest predictions, Musk said AI-generated internet traffic could exceed human internet traffic by 1,000 times within five years, reported Barron’s. He also revealed that Starlink now serves 22 million mobile subscribers and said SpaceX aims to build 10 gigawatts of AI compute capacity by the end of 2027—potentially representing around 20% of U.S. AI compute.
The comments shifted attention away from SpaceX’s near-term capital spending and toward the scale of its AI ambitions. They also reinforced a broader narrative emerging since the company’s public listing: that SpaceX is evolving into an AI infrastructure company alongside its space business.
Why Investors Are Looking Past Heavy AI Spending
The renewed optimism marks a sharp reversal from last week, when investors sent the stock sharply lower despite strong quarterly results, focusing instead on the company’s aggressive AI investments and mounting capital expenditure. SPCX stock is now up over 28% so far this month, and trades above it’s IPO price of $135.
Chart created using Benzinga Pro
Several analysts, however, argued the selloff overlooked the long-term earnings potential of those investments, particularly as AI infrastructure becomes a larger part of the business.
Another overhang also failed to materialize. Investors had been watching the expiration of SpaceX’s first insider lock-up period for signs of heavy selling pressure, but the expected wave of insider sales never came. With that uncertainty easing, buyers returned to the stock.
Meanwhile, Starlink continues to provide a strong financial foundation. The satellite internet business generated roughly 70% of SpaceX’s revenue in the latest quarter, helping offset losses from the company’s capital-intensive AI and Starship businesses.
Taken together, those developments are shifting the conversation around SpaceX. Rather than focusing solely on rockets, investors are increasingly weighing whether Musk can execute on his vision of building one of the world’s largest AI infrastructure platforms.
Whether that optimism proves justified will depend on execution. But for now, the market appears increasingly willing to look beyond near-term spending in favor of what Musk argues could become SpaceX’s next—and potentially biggest—growth story.
Photo courtesy: Samuel Boivin / Shutterstock.com
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