NEW YORK — SpaceX gave investors a fresh set of numbers to chew on Friday, with Elon Musk telling the Baron Investment Conference that the company — which now includes xAI — is tracking toward an annualized revenue rate above $100 billion by December. The disclosure put a spotlight back on SpaceX — NASDAQ: SPCX, the most-watched new name in the space and AI complex, and on its sister company Tesla — NASDAQ: TSLA.
"We are tracking to have an annual rate of revenue that is in excess of 100 billion dollars in December," Musk said, framing it as a trajectory rather than a booked result. He went further on the out-years, suggesting SpaceX's annual recurring revenue could reach $500 billion by December 2027. Musk was careful to label the longer forecast a best guess, "not a promise," and pegged the odds of hitting $1 trillion at a non-zero but low figure of around 2 percent.
The Growth Math Behind the Headline
The step-up has been steep. Musk said quarter-over-quarter revenue rose more than 80 percent from the second to the third quarter this year, with the fourth quarter likely up around 70 percent. Driving it are Starlink's global subscriber base and a surge in AI-compute commitments — including a reported Anthropic agreement valued at up to $120.5 billion through 2029 that has vaulted private customers past the government in SpaceX's revenue mix. That combination is why bulls have leaned into the orbital-compute thesis for $SPCX.
Reading the Tape
For investors, the near-term picture has been choppy. $SPCX and $TSLA both swung sharply after the midterm elections, with the two Musk-linked names shedding a combined figure north of $450 billion in market value over two sessions before stabilizing — volatility that followed a broader tech rout on the Nasdaq. As of this writing, $SPCX has been trading well off the post-IPO highs it set earlier this year, while $TSLA has held within its recent range; both remain among the most actively traded large-caps, and the broad market gauges $SPY and $QQQ have set the tone on risk sentiment. Prices here are point-in-time and should be confirmed on a live feed.
What to Watch
The revenue trajectory gives the bull case a concrete milestone: a $100 billion annualized rate exiting 2026. If SpaceX prints growth anywhere near Musk's 70-to-80 percent quarterly pace, the debate shifts from whether the company can justify its valuation to how quickly it compounds into it. Skeptics will note that the biggest out-year numbers are projections resting on AI demand that is still being built out.
Investors tracking the names can follow live quotes for SpaceX on Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, WSJ and Nasdaq, and for Tesla on Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, WSJ and Nasdaq. Company background is available at SpaceX.com.
This article does not constitute financial advice. Readers are advised to do their own research before investing in the stock market. Prices cited are point-in-time snapshots and may be stale — always confirm on a live financial source.