Starlink Growth Slows to 49.8% Ahead of SpaceX’s First Public Earnings

For space and defense professionals, the real story isn’t just a stock ticker—it’s the deployment of $100 billion toward orbital AI data centers, a gambit that could redefine space infrastructure and dual-use capabilities. The Cursor acquisition adds an AI brain to SpaceX’s operations, but Starlink’s growth deceleration and the unproven economics of in-space compute demand a hard look before the first earnings call in August.

SpaceX, now trading as SPCX on the NASDAQ, is poised to report its first quarterly earnings as a public company in early August 2026, covering the April–June period. The event is arguably the most anticipated of the season, amplified by a flurry of corporate maneuvers in the weeks since its IPO. Elon Musk's space and technology giant has acquired AI startup Cursor for $60 billion in an all-stock transaction and disclosed a cash reserve exceeding $100 billion. These moves underscore a radical strategic pivot: SpaceX is no longer just a rocket and satellite internet company; it is staking its future on artificial intelligence, with a declared ambition to build orbital AI data centers. The first earnings call will be a critical test of whether Wall Street buys into this vision at a nosebleed valuation.

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Elon Musk's space and technology giant has acquired AI startup Cursor for $60 billion in an all-stock transaction and disclosed a cash reserve exceeding $100 billion.

The company's S-1 registration statement offered a staggering total addressable market estimate of $28.5 trillion, the overwhelming share of which is attributed to AI. This figure, exceeding the entire global tech industry's current value, has captured imaginations but also invites skepticism. Achieving even a fraction of that TAM hinges on deploying AI infrastructure in space—a feat that involves staggering engineering, regulatory, and financial challenges. Musk is known for setting timelines that run years ahead of reality; the orbital data center project, while audacious, is unlikely to yield meaningful revenue this decade. For near-term investors, the risk is that the stock's 118x price-to-sales multiple already prices in that distant future, leaving no margin for missteps or delays.

Starlink, the cash-generating engine, shows signs of maturation. Revenue growth decelerated from 96.4% in 2024 to 49.8% in fiscal 2025. While still impressive, the halving of growth rate raises questions about subscriber saturation, capacity constraints, and emerging competition from Amazon's Project Kuiper and other low-earth-orbit constellations. Starlink's margins and subscriber additions will be the key metrics in the upcoming report, as they fund the broader ambitions. Meanwhile, the AI segment—though touted as the ultimate growth driver—remains the least profitable business unit and faces formidable rivals like OpenAI and hyperscale cloud providers. The $60 billion Cursor acquisition adds AI talent and technology, but its price tag, entirely in equity, introduces dilution risk and pressure to deliver synergies quickly.