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Elon Musk says SpaceX closed a $40 billion debt deal to fund purchases of graphics processing units for its artificial-intelligence ambitions. He also predicted a shakeout among neocloud providers. The company’s Starlink and launch revenues reportedly helped support its access to credit.
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Elon Musk says SpaceX closed a $40 billion debt deal to fund purchases of graphics processing units for its artificial-intelligence ambitions. He also predicted a shakeout among neocloud providers. The company’s Starlink and launch revenues reportedly helped support its access to credit.
General Atomics is working with Spirit Defense, a Boeing subsidiary, to help increase production of its FQ-42 collaborative combat aircraft as the U.S. Air Force seeks fighter drones over the next six years. The partnership points to an effort to build manufacturing capacity around the emerging uncrewed combat-aircraft requirement.
The Air Force wants artificial intelligence to review aerial refueling operations using video from cameras mounted on tankers, then provide crews with “hot wash” feedback. The initiative is aimed at strengthening crew capability through analysis of refueling performance.
The U.S. Space Force has awarded initial operational contracts for its Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve, while Kyiv is considering ICEYE- and Nokia-backed sovereign communications satellites after uncertainty over Ukraine’s Starshield access. Separate efforts target satellite links for UK drones and commercial satellite intelligence for wildfire response, underscoring expanding defense and public-service uses.
PhillipCapital upgraded SpaceX from sell to buy and tripled its price target to $250, implying about 70% upside, citing the potential of its AI business. Bernstein says Starlink’s improving profitability could support aggressive broadband pricing and competition with established U.S. telecom operators, despite slowing subscriber growth.
NASA has awarded U.S. physical artificial intelligence company AstraQua a $1.275 million Phase II contract to develop AstraSense for electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, including advanced air mobility applications. The award supports development of technology intended to let autonomous aircraft “feel pain.”
SpaceX is partnering with more than 130 companies, including Apollo Global Management, Nvidia, Snowflake, Databricks and Bain, to deploy and improve its Grok AI systems. The network is intended to bolster business adoption of Grok, extending SpaceX’s AI efforts beyond its own products and operations.
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Europe’s €15.6 billion Iris2 constellation depends on shared public-private delivery, while ESA’s Space Rider prototype failed to deploy its parachute in a drop test. In parallel, ClearSpace won the UK’s first national active-debris-removal mission and agreed to work with Eutelsat on GEO life extension; Aerospacelab and KAI signed an MoU for South Korea’s K-LEO constellation.
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