The revenue of US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX surged to $14.6 billion in the third quarter, marking an explosive 161% increase versus the same period a year earlier, the Financial Times reported. The result beat the most optimistic Wall Street forecasts — analysts had expected about $12.9 billion for the quarter. A year ago, revenue was just $5.6 billion.

Profitability showed an even more dramatic shift. Net income for the July‑to‑September period came in at $4.4 billion, more than double the market consensus of roughly $2 billion and a striking turnaround from a $1.1 billion net loss in the third quarter of last year. The key driver of the financial leap was a transformation of the business model: sales of AI services and cloud infrastructure capacity jumped ninefold, from $813 million to $7.6 billion, and tripled versus the second quarter.

The rapid revenue growth allowed SpaceX to fully offset heavy capital spending as it expands its technology base. Capital expenditures in the reporting period rose to $19.6 billion from $18.4 billion in the prior quarter. Analysts say management under Elon Musk moved quickly to monetize global demand for compute, turning the company into a major provider of AI data‑center capacity by leasing idle hardware to third parties. The success of those technology assets also boosted Musk’s personal wealth. On October 5, the entrepreneur officially reclaimed his trillionaire status after his aggregate net worth passed the $1 trillion mark again.