Google to pay SpaceX $920M monthly for compute services
▼ Summary
– SpaceX will provide Google with approximately 110,000 NVIDIA GPUs and related components from October 2026 through June 2029, for $920 million per month.
– Google’s deal is similar in length and scope to SpaceX’s earlier agreement with Anthropic, which pays $1.25 billion per month for compute from the Colossus 1 data center.
– Google described the deal as a short-term bridge to meet unexpected demand for its AI products like Gemini Enterprise.
– The agreement includes a cancellation clause, allowing either party to terminate with 90 days’ notice after December 31, 2026.
– SpaceX announced the deal a week before its IPO, which aims to raise $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation.
SpaceX has secured another massive compute agreement ahead of its highly anticipated IPO, this time with Google. The deal was disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday, revealing that Google will pay SpaceX $920 million per month from October 2026 through June 2029. In exchange, Google gains access to “approximately 110,000 NVIDIA GPUs, CPUs, memory, and other related components.”
This arrangement mirrors the structure and duration of the deal SpaceX struck with Anthropic in late May. Under that agreement, Anthropic committed to paying $1.25 billion per month through 2029 for exclusive access to all available compute from SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center near Memphis, Tennessee. That facility was originally built by xAI, now part of SpaceX, for its own artificial intelligence work.
Google’s deal covers roughly half the compute capacity that Anthropic secured at Colossus 1. SpaceX did not specify which data center Google will use. CEO Elon Musk has previously indicated that the Colossus 2 facility would be reserved for xAI’s needs.
Anthropic had been severely constrained by limited compute capacity before its SpaceX deal, and it raised usage limits on the same day the agreement was announced. Google, however, operates from a vastly different position. Some estimates rank it as the world’s largest single owner of AI compute.
A Google representative described the arrangement as a response to unexpected demand for its new AI products. “Google Cloud and SpaceX are long-time partners,” the company stated. “This is a short-term, timely agreement to ensure we have bridge capacity to meet surging customer demand for our agent platform, Gemini Enterprise, which has been even higher than we expected.”
Still, parent company Alphabet is on a major spending push. It has already committed to more than $180 billion in capital expenditures this year and expects that figure to “significantly increase” in 2027. To support this, Alphabet recently announced an $80 billion equity sale.
Much like the Anthropic deal, the Google agreement includes a cancellation clause. Either party can terminate the contract with 90 days’ notice after December 31, 2026. Google’s access to the data center will ramp up “through September at a reduced fee,” according to the filing.
“If we fail to deliver access to the committed amount of GPUs by September 30, 2026, then following a one-month grace period, Google may immediately terminate the agreement or accept the number of GPUs provided” with a reduction in monthly fees, the document states.
The announcement comes just one week before SpaceX’s stock is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange. SEC filings show the company aims to raise roughly $75 billion at a valuation of around $1.75 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO in history.
Google has been a longtime investor in SpaceX. Its stake in Musk’s company is projected to be worth more than $100 billion after the IPO. The two companies are also reportedly in discussions to build orbital data centers, a key part of SpaceX’s post-IPO strategy.
(Source: TechCrunch)
