Google Is Paying SpaceX $920 Million a Month for GPU Capacity, Because Gemini Enterprise Demand Broke Forecasts

The Google agreement is the second major infrastructure deal announced by SpaceX since its February merger with xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, in a transaction valuing the combined entity at $1.25 trillion.

One month after Anthropic‘s deal for the full Colossus 1 cluster, Google agreed to pay $920 million monthly for roughly half the capacity, from October 2026 through June 2029.

The filing came days before SpaceX’s Nasdaq IPO at $135 per share, targeting a valuation of about $1.785 trillion. SEC filings show Anthropic and Google will provide SpaceX with a combined $2.17 billion in monthly compute revenue ahead of the offering.

The contracts provide a clear benchmark for frontier AI compute costs amid peak demand.

Why Google Needed SpaceX’s GPUs Urgently

Google is currently building a data center in West Memphis, Arkansas. The contract serves as bridge capacity, ramping up through September before full terms begin in October, reflecting demand outpacing Google’s construction timeline. 

Google Cloud said demand for its Gemini Enterprise platform, launched in October for enterprise AI agents, exceeded expectations. 

xAI reportedly struggled to train Grok on Colossus 1’s mixed H100, H200, and GB200 GPU architecture, shifting training to Colossus 2 and freeing Colossus 1 for external customers. 

SpaceX is therefore monetizing what was originally a hardware liability by packaging it as bridge compute for the two AI labs most desperately short of capacity. 

The Google Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, announced at Cloud Next in April with TPU 8i silicon, Agent Identity, and the A2A Protocol, is the product driving the demand that made this contract necessary. 

What SpaceX Gets and What Both Companies Risk

SpaceX did not disclose which data center Google will use. CEO Elon Musk has previously indicated Colossus 2 would be reserved for xAI. 

If Google is not receiving Colossus 1 at full capacity, which is already contracted to Anthropic, the deal likely involves either a separate facility or partial allocation from Colossus 1 capacity. 

Announced roughly a week before SpaceX’s Nasdaq debut, the agreement gives investors visibility into $2.17 billion in combined monthly AI compute revenue from Google and Anthropic. 

The cancellation clause cuts both ways. The contract allows either party to terminate with 90 days’ notice after December 31, 2026.

Google retains maximum flexibility as its own infrastructure comes online; SpaceX retains the right to reprice or redirect capacity if xAI’s Grok, which Musk admitted to distilling, recovers its competitive position. 

Source: SpaceX Official Filing