SpaceX Lands $1.1 Billion Monthly AI Compute Deal While Racing to Fix Its Data Centers

SpaceX signed a $1.1 billion-per-month AI computing contract starting in December, even as its data centers face cooling and power issues.

SpaceX has signed a contract worth $1.1 billion per month to supply computing capacity for artificial intelligence, according to a MarketWatch report, with the arrangement set to go live in December. The partner on the other side of the deal was not disclosed.

The agreement lands at an awkward moment. It arrives just as the company is wrestling with the very business line it showcases — the buildout of AI data centers that has run into repeated technical trouble.

Cooling and Power Gaps at Southern Sites

Reporting from The Information described how facilities in Tennessee and Mississippi operated for months without backup cooling or emergency power. Those are precisely the safeguards that keep a data center running when something goes wrong, and their absence exposed the speed-first approach SpaceX had taken to getting capacity online.

The company responded in early September with a leadership shake-up. Wesley Salandro, previously in charge of rocket production, and Starbase operations chief Logan McConnell were handed control of the data centers, while several senior staff departed — among them Jake Palmer, Zach Wells and Pablo Mendoza. Michael Nicolls was brought in to oversee xAI activities. The new priority, according to the reports, is redundancy in cooling and power rather than sheer construction pace.

A Google Deadline That Won't Move

None of this buys SpaceX extra time. An existing contract with Google for computing power totaling $920 million per month carries a September 30 deadline, and reporting suggests the window for completing the necessary infrastructure is tightening. Delays in the buildout could complicate meeting that target — a detail investors are likely watching closely, given that data centers rank among the company's key long-term growth engines alongside its space business.

The fresh $1.1 billion-a-month order confirms that demand for SpaceX compute capacity remains intense. It also raises the operational stakes: the technical defects now have to be fixed while the machinery keeps running.

Gas Turbine Foundry as a Pressure Valve

Energy supply is the bottleneck SpaceX is trying to attack from the other end. In early September the company confirmed plans for its own foundry to manufacture turbine blades for gas turbines. Elon Musk called the project a "profound game-changer," saying it could bring turbines online for AI data centers up to 18 months sooner. The move underscores how far SpaceX now operates as an energy and infrastructure provider in service of its AI ambitions, well beyond its traditional launch business.

Launch Cadence Continues Unabated

While the data center headlines pile up, the core space operation keeps moving. On September 5, SpaceX lifted 27 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base — its 80th Starlink mission of 2026. Kiko Dontchev, vice president of launch, said future Starlink flights from Florida will use Starship exclusively. That mission was the third in a row in which Starlink satellites were no longer launched by Falcon 9 from Florida. On Wednesday, the classified USSF-153 payload followed for the U.S. Space Force, also from Vandenberg.

Shares Shrug Off the Mixed Signals

The stock has taken the conflicting news in stride. The shares changed hands at EUR 128.94, up 0.9% from the previous close of EUR 127.80. Over the past 30 days the stock has gained 1.0% and trades roughly 9.1% above its 50-day moving average.

The picture over a longer horizon is more complicated. The shares sit 34% below their 52-week high of EUR 194.46, yet have climbed 42% from their August low. An annualized volatility reading of 84% captures just how forcefully investors are pricing in the tug-of-war between data center setbacks and billion-dollar contract wins — with the September 30 Google deadline as the next marker on the calendar.