SpaceX seeks 40 billion dollars of debt for Nvidia chips as its credit risk gauge hits a record

SpaceX is seeking about $40 billion of financing to buy Nvidia chips, according to reports citing sources^5,6. The company is in talks with the asset manager PIMCO over the financing, one source told Reuters⁶. Musk has praised Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang and said his company will use Nvidia’s hardware exclusively³.

Credit markets reacted the same day. A measure of credit risk at SpaceX rose to a record high while its bonds dropped after the plans to raise the money became public^2,8. SpaceX shares fell 2 percent, and Musk’s own paper wealth fell by $21 billion over the course of Wednesday morning⁷.

The reported purpose is narrow. The financing is earmarked for buying chips, which ties the borrowing directly to hardware procurement rather than to general corporate purposes^5,6.

Why it matters to investors

The size of the raise is the point. Describing it as a bond binge, Axios noted that rising rates have not curtailed hyperscaler appetites, despite debt bubble concerns voiced on Wednesday by Ray Dalio⁴. A borrowing programme of this scale for hardware tells investors how much of the AI buildout is now financed with debt rather than with cash flow^4,5.

Credit markets are already charging for that. The record reading on the SpaceX credit risk gauge came specifically on the fundraising reports, not on an operating problem^2,8. Bondholders marking the paper down while the equity slips is the market pricing leverage rather than pricing the chips^2,7.

What to watch

Where SpaceX sits in the AI capital structure is contested. Semafor argued the reported raise shows the company is stuck between mature technology giants such as Google and Meta, which fund spending from their own cash, and startups such as OpenAI and Anthropic, which raise equity⁵. Reuters Breakingviews framed the move as Musk readying his signature gambit at SpaceX, a reference to his record of using aggressive financing¹.

Three things will settle the argument. Whether PIMCO and other lenders fund the full amount, and on what terms, will show how deep the appetite runs^4,6. Whether the credit risk gauge stays at its record or retreats once terms are set will show whether this is a repricing or a panic^2,8. And whether other AI buyers follow with debt raises of their own will show if SpaceX is an outlier or the template, a question Barron’s framed as a read on both SpaceX and Nvidia^3,5.