SpaceX (SPCX.US) plans to take on $40 billion in debt, sparking investor concerns; credit risk indicator hits a record high since trading began.

Investor concerns over the company's large-scale debt issuance intensified after reports that SpaceX (SPCX.US) is in talks with banks and investors to raise $40 billion in financing to purchase NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) chips. On Wednesday, SpaceX's credit risk indicator rose to its highest level since trading began, and its bonds also weakened noticeably in the secondary market. Data from ICE Data Services showed that the price of SpaceX's five-year credit default swaps (CDS) rose by as much as 14.5 basis points on Wednesday to about 195.4 basis points per year, an intraday high since active trading in the relevant CDS began in June this year. CDS prices typically rise as investor concerns about a company's debt repayment risk increase, so this change reflects that the cost of obtaining default protection for SpaceX's debt in the market is increasing. This pressure also spread to the U.S. investment-grade bond secondary market. As of the start of U.S. stock trading on Wednesday, the credit spread on SpaceX bonds with a 6.65% coupon maturing in 2056 widened by 12 basis points to 238 basis points, significantly higher than the 175 basis points when the bonds were issued in June this year. At that time, this batch of bonds was part of SpaceX's $25 billion debt financing. The market fluctuation was triggered by news that SpaceX is seeking a new round of massive financing. According to reports, the company is considering raising about $40 billion to purchase NVIDIA Corporation chips to support AI infrastructure construction. If ultimately completed, this would become one of the largest debt financing transactions in this round of AI infrastructure investment boom. According to media reports citing people familiar with the matter, SpaceX plans to complete the financing through about $10 billion in bank loans and $30 billion in investment-grade bonds. Apollo Global Management is leading the related financing arrangements, and the transaction is expected to be completed no earlier than 2027. However, the financing negotiations are still at an early stage and may ultimately fail to be reached. SpaceX has not yet responded to the related reports. SpaceX's potential financing plan comes at a time when technology companies and AI model developers are heavily borrowing to build AI infrastructure. In order to build and lease large data centers equipped with large numbers of high-performance chips, related companies are investing and financing hundreds of billions of dollars. The rapid expansion of global computing infrastructure is also driving up the costs of land, AI chips, electricity, and power generation equipment, and has spawned a series of ultra-large-scale financing transactions. Sal Naro, chief investment officer of Coherence Credit Strategies, said the market is currently facing an "unprecedented supply of debt," with no obvious end in sight for now. He believes that the scale of AI infrastructure construction underway globally is unprecedented, and what makes it unusual is that a large number of construction projects are being carried out almost simultaneously around the world. SpaceX is not the only company recently seeking massive AI-related financing. According to reports, Broadcom Inc.'s (AVGO.US) Wall Street underwriting team has also begun planning a new round of about $60 billion in AI chip financing to support related demand from companies such as Anthropic. As the scale of AI infrastructure investment continues to expand, market attention to technology companies' financing needs and debt burdens is also rising. For SpaceX, if the potential $40 billion financing is ultimately completed, it will further expand its debt scale, while record-high CDS prices and widening bond spreads show that investors have already begun to demand higher risk compensation.