Elon Musk pointed out in an X post Friday, that SpaceX government contracts will account for less than 10% of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2026, dropping from 16.6% in Q3, and will fall to under 5% within a year. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO was responding to far-left Democrat critics who have threatened to scrutinize federal contracts after regaining control of Congress.
The shift in revenue composition is driven by the rapid growth of the company’s AI computing segment, SpaceXSI, which generated $7.56 billion in Q3. Anthropic has emerged as the company's largest single customer, accounting for over one-third of revenue through massive compute leasing deals from SpaceX’s Memphis data centers.
This commercial growth reduces reliance on federal funding, however it introduces concentration risk, as Anthropic can exit its contracts with 90 days’ notice starting in early 2027.
Musk defended the U.S. government contracts by asserting they offer the "best product and lowest price" and offered to cancel any agency's wish to terminate. The space, communication and AI company provides the only viable crewed spacecraft, Dragon, which flies astronauts to-and-from the International Space Station.
SpaceX is preparing for Starship Flight 15, scheduled for November, 2026. This mission aims to achieve a "profound" technological milestone by attempting to catch both the Starship upper stage and the Super Heavy booster using the launch tower's mechanical arms. Musk described the odds of success as "more likely than not," noting that successful dual-stage recovery is critical for achieving the economies of scale needed to make life multiplanetary and support future Artemis IV lunar landings.