Where we heard itFinancial Times report of Oct. 6, 2026, followed by Reuters and CNBC on Oct. 7. Podcast details from The AI Daily Brief, host Nathaniel Whittemore, Oct. 9, 2026.
SpaceXSPCX is putting together one of the largest chip fundings ever attempted, and the credit market has already responded. Reuters reported, citing sources, that SpaceX is seeking $40 billion in financing to buy chips from NVIDIANVDA. CNBC reported, citing a person familiar with the talks, that Apollo Global ManagementAPO is playing a leading role, with several banks in talks alongside it to finance the $40 billion GPU purchase. The Financial Times was first to report that SpaceX looks to raise $40bn for NVIDIA chips.
Apollo is best known as a private credit firm, where investment firms lend directly to borrowers with terms kept confidential. Most of this money is set to come from public markets, though: the Financial Times reported about $10 billion in bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade bonds, and CNBC’s source said the deal would rely mainly on the investment-grade market. Public bond sales require offering documents anyone can read, which gives outsiders far more visibility than private deals. Apollo’s own shares were 24.3% below their high as of Oct. 7, part of a selloff across alternative asset managers.
Credit Markets Hit a Record on the News
In a second confirmed development, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX’s credit default swap spreads hit a record high after the debt plan became known.
A credit default swap works like insurance against non-payment. The buyer pays a regular fee; if the borrower defaults, the seller covers the loss. Higher prices mean the market sees more risk the debt won’t be repaid.
Shares Fell on the News but Ended the Week Higher
SpaceX stock closed at $162.57 on October 9, 2026, up 1.2% in Friday’s session and up 2.3% over the week. Shares fell 6.6% from October 6 to October 8 as the financing reports spread, before Friday’s bounce. On Oct. 7, Capital Wealth Planning’s Kevin Simpson added to his SpaceX position during the pullback, citing the chip financing news.
Insuring SpaceX’s debt cost more this week than ever before, while its shares ended the week higher. Shareholders profit when the company grows; lenders profit only when repaid. The same news looks like ambition to one group and risk to the other. Investors wanting SpaceX’s spending details can read its most recent quarterly earnings release filed with the SEC or visit the SpaceX investor relations site.
The deal and the stock at a glance
What a Podcast Added
The details below come from a podcast discussion that cited the Financial Times, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.
On The AI Daily Brief, host Nathaniel Whittemore, citing the Financial Times, said several lenders passed after receiving a “short two-page deal memo with pictures of outer space and an arrow pointing out that the company was going to build data centers ‘somewhere in the universe.’” He also cited Bloomberg reporting that PIMCO is looking at the deal. Other outlets, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Pimco was among a small group of lenders in talks.
Whittemore said SpaceX’s credit default swaps are now pricing in a 15% chance of default by the end of 2031. Bloomberg reported the record high in spreads. It did not report this probability, and we could not independently verify it.
Whittemore described a second deal, reported by The Wall Street Journal: BroadcomAVGO in talks on a $50 billion deal with Apollo and BlackstoneBX to finance OpenAI’s custom chips. In his reading, Broadcom would lend its credit rating to OpenAI for a better interest rate. He suggested frontier AI labs could struggle to borrow at investment grade once they go public.
A third deal involves OracleORCL, which the Journal reported is talking to Apollo and Goldman Sachs about funding a large chip purchase. Whittemore noted Oracle already faces credit downgrade risk. The size of Oracle’s deal was not disclosed, and the SpaceX and Broadcom deals alone come to $90 billion.
Why Private Credit Is Becoming the AI Funding Channel
A growing share of AI infrastructure spending is financed through private credit, which reveals less than public bonds. Fewer people see the terms, covenants, and true borrowing costs.
For individual investors, these transactions can shift credit market views before public filings appear. Credit default swap pricing is one of few visible signals, worth tracking alongside the stock.
Keeping the Confirmed Facts Separate
The confirmed facts: a company is seeking tens of billions in debt to buy chips, and the cost of insuring that debt has hit a record. The podcast’s details are more colorful and may well be accurate, but readers should know which claims are confirmed and which are not.
SpaceX wants $40 billion, mostly in investment-grade bonds, to buy NVIDIA chips, and lenders are already charging a record price to insure its debt. The stock held up over the week, but the deal would roughly double the $39.4 billion of debt SpaceX carried at the end of June. The risk is that the cost of borrowing keeps rising faster than the AI business it is meant to fund.