#股票财报季
After reading SpaceX’s third-quarter report, the question I most want to ask is: Is the money it’s earning keeping up with the money it’s spending?
The results were certainly impressive: third-quarter revenue was about $14.58 billion, up 161% year over year, with net income of about $4.4 billion.
But looking closer, a few things are more interesting than “rapidly growing results.”
1️⃣ AI revenue has already surpassed Starlink’s, but Starlink is still the main profit driver.
The SI segment, which includes AI, brought in $7.56 billion in quarterly revenue; the connectivity business, which includes Starlink, brought in $5.248 billion.
By revenue, AI has pulled ahead.
But in terms of operating profit, the connectivity business contributed about 85%. AI revenue growth also includes contributions from cloud service agreements and the acquisition of Cursor, so it can’t all be attributed to Grok suddenly flying off the shelves.
My take: AI is opening up room for growth, while Starlink is already delivering real profits.
2️⃣ Revenue is growing fast, but the investment is substantial too.
SpaceX’s capital expenditures this quarter were about $19.59 billion, more than its revenue for the same period. About $16.44 billion of that went to the SI business.
Of course, capital expenditures can’t be treated as a loss for the quarter. But after investing this much, we’ll need to see the returns: Are customers using the computing capacity? Will they keep paying? How long will it take to recoup the costs?
Next quarter, I’d most like to see whether there are new answers to these questions.
3️⃣ This way of thinking is actually useful in crypto, too.
When you see AI or DePIN projects, don’t get swept up in the story right away. Ask a few questions:
How many people are actually paying to use it? Does the revenue come from customers, or is it being propped up by subsidies? After deducting hardware, electricity, and bandwidth costs, how much is left?
And the most, most, most important question:
How exactly do token holders benefit when the project makes money?
If that isn’t clear, no matter how much buzz the business generates, it’s not a good enough reason on its own to expect the token price to rise.
The lesson I take from SpaceX’s report is simple: Growth is worth watching, but it’s even more important to look at how much was spent to achieve it—and who ultimately gets the returns.
When you look at AI tokens, what do you check first: the product, the revenue, or the tokenomics?
#SpaceX #AI
After reading SpaceX’s third-quarter report, the question I most want to ask is: Is the money it’s earning keeping up with the money it’s spending?
The results were certainly impressive: third-quarter revenue was about $14.58 billion, up 161% year over year, with net income of about $4.4 billion.
But looking closer, a few things are more interesting than “rapidly growing results.”
1️⃣ AI revenue has already surpassed Starlink’s, but Starlink is still the main profit driver.
The SI segment, which includes AI, brought in $7.56 billion in quarterly revenue; the connectivity business, which includes Starlink, brought in $5.248 billion.
By revenue, AI has pulled ahead.
But in terms of operating profit, the connectivity business contributed about 85%. AI revenue growth also includes contributions from cloud service agreements and the acquisition of Cursor, so it can’t all be attributed to Grok suddenly flying off the shelves.
My take: AI is opening up room for growth, while Starlink is already delivering real profits.
2️⃣ Revenue is growing fast, but the investment is substantial too.
SpaceX’s capital expenditures this quarter were about $19.59 billion, more than its revenue for the same period. About $16.44 billion of that went to the SI business.
Of course, capital expenditures can’t be treated as a loss for the quarter. But after investing this much, we’ll need to see the returns: Are customers using the computing capacity? Will they keep paying? How long will it take to recoup the costs?
Next quarter, I’d most like to see whether there are new answers to these questions.
3️⃣ This way of thinking is actually useful in crypto, too.
When you see AI or DePIN projects, don’t get swept up in the story right away. Ask a few questions:
How many people are actually paying to use it? Does the revenue come from customers, or is it being propped up by subsidies? After deducting hardware, electricity, and bandwidth costs, how much is left?
And the most, most, most important question:
How exactly do token holders benefit when the project makes money?
If that isn’t clear, no matter how much buzz the business generates, it’s not a good enough reason on its own to expect the token price to rise.
The lesson I take from SpaceX’s report is simple: Growth is worth watching, but it’s even more important to look at how much was spent to achieve it—and who ultimately gets the returns.
When you look at AI tokens, what do you check first: the product, the revenue, or the tokenomics?
#SpaceX #AI