SpaceX's Dual Bet: AI Data Centers and Military Satellites Reshape the Growth Story

SpaceX targets 5-10 GW of compute by 2027, confirms UK Starshield use, and eyes Starship for Starlink as data-center issues surface.

SpaceX is no longer just a rocket company. The Hawthorne-based firm is steadily recasting itself as an infrastructure provider for artificial intelligence, while simultaneously deepening its footprint in Western defense architecture — two strategic pivots that are giving investors multiple narratives to weigh.

At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology conference, SpaceX laid out plans to build enormous computing capacity, reaffirming a hosting contract set to generate roughly $1.11 billion in monthly recurring revenue starting December 1. The company is targeting 5 to 10 gigawatts of terrestrial compute capacity by 2027, with just over 2 gigawatts expected in place by the end of 2026. Orbital compute via dedicated satellites remains a longer-term ambition, with first launches not slated until later years and larger scaling phases planned through 2028.

Cooling Setbacks Test Execution

The buildout has not been frictionless. Reports indicate SpaceX reshuffled parts of its AI data-center leadership last week after reliability and construction issues surfaced at sites in Tennessee and Mississippi. A September 30 deadline looms for delivering committed GPUs under a compute contract with Google valued at approximately $920 million per month. The episode underscores how tightly operational reliability in the data-center business is now tethered to the company's financial commitments.

Britain Confirms Starshield Use

Beyond compute, SpaceX's security-policy relevance is expanding. According to Reuters, the United Kingdom has now spent nearly $40 million on SpaceX satellite services — roughly $17.6 million for the military-grade Starshield service and about $22.3 million for Starlink. That makes Britain the first country outside the United States to publicly confirm using Starshield for military and intelligence purposes, a disclosure Reuters frames as growing UK reliance on Elon Musk's company.

The defense business is broadening on multiple fronts. On Thursday, SpaceX launched the classified USSF-153 mission for the US Space Force from Vandenberg Space Force Base, successfully recovering the Falcon 9 first stage on a drone ship in the Pacific. Such missions have become routine for the company, but the Starshield arrangement with Britain signals an increasingly international customer base.

Starlink Cadence and a Starship Shift

The civilian Starlink program continues at full throttle. In early September, SpaceX deployed 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites from Vandenberg — the company's 104th orbital launch of the year. Days later came mission Starlink 15-24, the 80th Starlink launch of 2026, also carrying 27 satellites. That tempo highlights how central the Starlink network has become to operations.

A structural change is on the horizon. Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX's vice president of launch operations, announced that Starlink missions from Florida will eventually fly on Starship rather than Falcon 9. Static-fire tests of Ship 41 and Booster 21 have already been completed, paving the way for Starship Flight 14 — a date still targeted for no earlier than September 15.

Analyst Coverage Begins

Pivotal Research initiated coverage of SpaceX in early September with a buy rating and a $220 price target. The analysts argued that the company's valuation hinges largely on the reusability of the Starship rocket — a point that gains particular relevance ahead of the upcoming test flights.

Market Response

The stock closed Friday at EUR 130.32, up 2.1% on the day. On a weekly basis, shares gained 2.3%, and the price sits roughly 11% above its 50-day moving average. While the paper remains about a third below its June 52-week high, it has pulled well clear of its 52-week low of EUR 91.04 hit in early August. Over 30 days, the stock is up 3.0%, though a gap of 33% persists to the year's high of EUR 194.46.

The mix of military contracts, a growing AI business, and sustained launch frequency is giving the market ample reason for optimism — even as operational stumbling blocks like the data-center cooling problems show the expansion is not without friction. How quickly Starship matures may ultimately determine whether these parallel growth stories converge into a single, durable investment case.