Elon Musk Limits SpaceX AI Compute Rentals for Internal Projects

Elon Musk announced during a third-quarter earnings call on October 20, 2026, that SpaceX is experiencing relentless demand from hyperscalers and smaller AI firms seeking to rent its computing power. Musk stated the company could rent its capacity several times over if it accepted all requests, but SpaceX is currently reserving approximately half of its compute for internal AI projects.

These internal priorities include the Grok chatbot and Cursor, a coding startup recently acquired by SpaceX. For the remaining capacity, the company intends to utilize dynamic spot market rates rather than entering into long-term contracts.

Musk predicted a long-term shortage of super intelligence compute, suggesting that the value of such capacity will increase as AI models generate more useful intelligence per watt.