Nvidia is not only selling chips to SpaceX. It owns a substantial piece of the company too.
An SEC filing disclosed that Nvidia held approximately 122.8 million Class A shares of SpaceX at the end of the second quarter of 2026, valued at roughly $21 billion as of June 30, according to CNBC. The position makes Nvidia the sixth-largest investor in SpaceX, according to FactSet data. Elon Musk holds by far the largest stake, worth approximately $850 billion. Alphabet ranks second at roughly $78 billion.
The shares were not purchased on the open market. According to a source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named, Nvidia obtained them through a $10 billion investment in Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, made as part of a $20 billion funding round in January 2026. The precise terms under which SpaceX shares were included in that arrangement have not been made public.
SpaceX completed its initial public offering on the Nasdaq in June 2026, selling 555.6 million Class A shares at $135 apiece and raising roughly $75 billion. The listing was described as a record offering. Its stock has since been volatile. By August 14, 2026, SpaceX shares had fallen to $140, down from $170.86 at the end of June — reducing the value of Nvidia's holding to approximately $17.2 billion, CNBC reported.
The financial relationship runs in both directions. On SpaceX's second-quarter earnings call, Musk said SpaceX would exclusively use Nvidia chips in its artificial intelligence data centres and for advanced AI models. He added that SpaceX expects a "significant volume" of Nvidia's next-generation Vera Rubin graphics processing units. The precise terms and duration of that exclusive arrangement have not been disclosed.
Nvidia shares climbed approximately 3.70% to $219.78 in mid-morning trading on August 6, 2026, the day of that announcement. The company's market capitalisation stood at approximately $5.133 trillion at the time.
The SpaceX stake is Nvidia's second-largest equity holding. Its largest is a position in Intel, valued at approximately $22 billion at the time of writing — down from roughly $30 billion at the end of the second quarter, according to Bloomberg. The Intel position follows the same pattern: a significant industry relationship converted into a major equity stake. Whether it was built through a cross-investment structure similar to the xAI deal, or through open-market purchases, is not known.
The shape of the strategy is clear enough. Nvidia sits simultaneously as supplier, investor, and ecosystem participant inside two of the most heavily capitalised companies in technology. Its chip revenue and its equity upside point in the same direction — provided its customers keep growing. That alignment is worth noting before the earnings call: Nvidia is scheduled to report its own second-quarter fiscal 2027 results on August 26, 2026.
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