SpaceX (SPACEX) on Solana

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has gained indirect exposure to SpaceX through its substantial Alphabet holdings, creating what analysts are calling a "backdoor play" on the rocket and AI company. Berkshire holds a 0.9% stake in Alphabet worth approximately $38 billion, and since Alphabet itself owns roughly 4% of SpaceX — valued at $94 billion as of June 30 — Berkshire's proportional interest in SpaceX amounts to an estimated $815 million, though that figure had declined to approximately $700 million by mid-August.

SpaceX's Q2 2026 financials underscore why Buffett never pursued a direct investment: the company reported $7.8 billion in revenue alongside a $541 million net loss, while capital expenditures surpassed $18 billion — more than twice its quarterly sales. Shares trade at roughly 39 times forward sales estimates, some 3,220% above the sector median, and at over 1,500 times earnings — a valuation profile sharply at odds with Buffett's preference for businesses with consistent earning power and reasonable multiples. The Alphabet connection gives Berkshire a small, incidental slice of SpaceX's upside without Buffett having to make any deliberate bet on a company that sits well outside his traditional circle of competence.

SpaceX reported quarterly revenue of $7.81 billion, up 92% year-over-year and ahead of analyst estimates of $6.93 billion, with a net loss of 9 cents per share versus the expected 26 cents. Starlink remained the company's most profitable segment, generating $4.29 billion in revenue (up 66% annually) and $1.66 billion in operating income, though average revenue per subscriber declined 22% year-over-year. The Space segment posted a $542 million operating loss, while SpaceX's nascent AI segment produced $2.56 billion in revenue — up roughly 250% — but lost $1.26 billion at the operating level.

Despite the top-line beat, shares fell about 7.5% in after-hours trading as investors focused on capital expenditure: SpaceX reported $18.4 billion in capex for the quarter, with $15.8 billion directed toward AI infrastructure — more than double the prior quarter. CFO commentary framed the AI spending as generating "less than a one-year payback," and Musk moved up his $1 trillion annual revenue target to 2030, one year earlier than previously projected. The quarter also brought a partnership announcement for orbital "space compute" hardware for satellites, and SpaceX confirmed it is building its AI data centers exclusively with NVIDIA chips — news that lifted NVDA shares roughly 2%.

As of July 28, 2026, Alphabet holds 551 million SpaceX shares (4.2% of the company) and Nvidia holds 123 million shares (0.9%), together dwarfing the combined positions of index giants BlackRock (51 million shares) and Vanguard (37 million shares across two funds). Alphabet's stake originated from a $900 million investment in 2015, while Nvidia's shares were converted from a $10 billion xAI investment after SpaceX acquired xAI in February 2026.

That balance is set to shift as SpaceX's float expands. An additional 912 million shares became eligible for trading on August 6, and all remaining non-insider shares unlock in December 2026, with Elon Musk's shares following in June 2027. Potential S&P 500 inclusion — possible as early as June 2027 — would trigger mandatory buying by index funds, meaning BlackRock and Vanguard's relatively small stakes are likely to grow substantially as passive capital flows into a fully liquid SpaceX.

Harvard University disclosed a $2.2 billion SpaceX position as of the most recent quarter-end, making it the largest individual holding within the university's $4.3 billion U.S. equity portfolio. The disclosure lifted SPCX shares more than 1% overnight on Sunday. Several other universities also reported significant SpaceX exposure, including the University of California with roughly $1 billion in shares and sizable positions at the University of North Carolina and Washington University in St. Louis.

Mizuho reiterated an Outperform rating with a $200 price target, implying approximately 43% upside from SPCX's recent price of around $140. The analyst note landed alongside fresh Grok 4.6 benchmark results showing xAI's model performing roughly in line with OpenAI and Anthropic's latest offerings on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index — a competitive development for SpaceX's AI ambitions given Musk's comments on the company's first earnings call that SpaceX is building exclusively on Nvidia's Vera Rubin architecture.

SpaceX has completed a $60 billion all-stock acquisition of Cursor, an AI coding startup, in what the companies describe as "the second largest venture-backed acquisition on record." Cursor will be folded into SpaceX's xAI division, adding a software layer for developer workflows atop the company's existing GPU infrastructure and satellite network.

The deal extends SpaceX's push beyond raw compute capacity toward higher-margin AI services, connecting Cursor's developer tools directly to SpaceX's orbital network and cloud ambitions. The company reported $2.6 billion in AI segment revenue in Q2 2026, with 1.4 gigawatts of compute operational and a target of exceeding 2 gigawatts by year-end — though SpaceX remains unprofitable at the group level.

Nvidia disclosed in an SEC filing that it held 122.8 million SpaceX Class A shares valued at approximately $21 billion as of June 30, 2026, making SpaceX the chipmaker's second-largest equity position behind only its Intel stake of roughly $22 billion. The position traces back to Nvidia's $10 billion investment in xAI in January 2026, which converted into SpaceX equity when SpaceX acquired xAI for $1.25 trillion in February, establishing Nvidia as SpaceX's sixth-largest shareholder after Elon Musk and Alphabet.

The disclosure reinforces the deepening strategic relationship between the two companies: SpaceX has committed to deploying Nvidia's Vera Rubin chip architecture exclusively across its terrestrial and orbital AI data centers. By the time of the filing's release, SpaceX shares had retreated from a late-June high of $170.86 to around $140, trimming the position's mark-to-market value to approximately $17.2 billion, though Nvidia's stake remains one of the largest disclosed institutional holdings in SpaceX.

Alphabet's $900 million investment in SpaceX made in 2015 had grown to approximately $94.2 billion by June 30, 2026, according to 13F filing data — a more than 100-fold return over the decade. At that date, Alphabet held 551.2 million SpaceX shares valued at $170.86 each, making it by far the largest single institutional holder of the company following SpaceX's June 12, 2026 IPO at $135 per share. The next largest disclosed institutional holders, Gigafund Management and Baillie Gifford, held 171.8 million and 51.4 million shares respectively.

SpaceX stock traded at $146.15 on August 14, 2026, roughly 8.3% above its IPO price but well below the $170.86 close recorded at the end of the most recent 13F reporting period. As with all 13F data, the figures reflect holdings as of the filing date and do not capture any transactions or lockup expirations that may have occurred since.

SpaceX shares have rebounded roughly 41% from their August 3 low, trading above $146 and reclaiming territory well above the $135 IPO price, while short interest has simultaneously collapsed from a 34% peak to around 11% of publicly traded shares, according to data from S3 Partners. Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director at S3 Partners, noted that short sellers who wanted to press their bets have largely exhausted their position: "Shorts that wanted to short are out of bullets." The initial selloff followed SpaceX's first post-IPO earnings report, in which capital spending more than doubled revenue, unsettling growth-focused investors.

The rebound has been driven by several converging factors: Q2 revenue growth that beat Wall Street expectations, a major lockup expiration on August 8 that failed to trigger the feared wave of insider selling — approximately 911.5 million restricted shares became eligible for trading, lifting freely tradable float from 4.9% to 11.8%, yet prices climbed rather than fell — and Norway's $2.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund disclosing a $1.2 billion position in the company. Bears who covered their short positions by buying back shares contributed to the buying pressure, though analysts caution that the expanded float means fresh selling supply could emerge in the weeks ahead.