Commercial space flight giant SpaceX has warned investors it could face supply chain risks as it moves to scale up its in-house AI compute efforts.
Supply Risks Plague SpaceX
According to S-1 filings accessed by Reuters on Wednesday, SpaceX had listed its in-house chip manufacturing as one of its “substantial capital expenditures.” SpaceX also outlined that it did not have long-term contracts in place with suppliers and that it will continue to source a “significant” portion of its compute from third-party suppliers.
“There can be no assurance that we will be able to achieve our objectives with respect to TERAFAB within the expected timeframes, or at all,” SpaceX said.
SpaceX did not mention a specific figure when it comes to the CapEx outlined in the filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the report said.
SpaceX’s Unproven Tech
SpaceX also reportedly cautioned investors looking to participate in the upcoming IPO that the company's orbital datacenter goals, as well as plans to colonize Mars, rely on unproven technology and carry risks. It also cautioned that the goals may not be commercially viable. SpaceX is eyeing a $1.75 trillion valuation for its IPO.
Intel Deal, Tesla’s Earnings
The news comes as Elon Musk had shared that Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX would use Intel Corp‘s (NASDAQ:INTC) next-generation 14A manufacturing process for chips at Terafab. The EV giant also announced it was raising its 2026 capital-spending plan to more than $25 billion from $20 billion last quarter.
Tesla, on the other hand, also reported its first-quarter 2026 earnings on Wednesday, where Musk confirmed that Tesla vehicles equipped with Hardware 3 (HW3) chips would not be able to achieve Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD). Tesla also acquired a $2 billion equity stake in SpaceX.
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