Google Agrees to Pay SpaceX $11 Billion a Year for Compute

SPCX closed at $144.745 on October 22, 2026, down 9.14% from the prior close of $159.31, on volume of 166,545,390 shares.

Executive Summary

SPCX reversed sharply after the previous session's gain. It opened at $154.21, almost at the day's high of $154.255, and sold off through the session to close at $144.745, near the low of $143.21. The prior session closed at $159.31, the highest close since October 12. Today's close gives back that entire move and lands below the October 20 close of $147.79.

The day's headlines are dominated by SpaceX's third-quarter results and the surrounding commentary. Motley Fool and Zacks coverage cites Q3 revenue of $14.58 billion, up 161% year over year, and an AI segment that turned profitable. The same coverage says Musk disclosed that special committees are exploring a potential merger with Tesla, which would need shareholder approval. Benzinga reports that Bank of America raised its SpaceX price target to $275. Benzinga stories on AMD, CoreWeave and AST SpaceMobile describe weakness in chip and AI-related shares on the same day. None of the provided headlines explains the size of SPCX's own decline, so this report does not attribute the drop to any single cause.

News

1. Google Is Paying SpaceX $11 Billion a Year for Compute. Here's the Concentration Risk Nobody Is Pricing In.

Google has agreed to pay SpaceX $11 billion annually through 2029 for access to approximately 110,000 GPUs to expand its cloud infrastructure and keep pace with competitors. While the deal quickly resolves Google's GPU bottleneck, it exposes concentration risks by funding xAI as a potential future competitor, reinforcing Nvidia's market dominance, and creating dependency on centralized infrastructure that could face disruption. (The Motley Fool, Oct 22, 3:50 PM ET)

2. Harvard's Endowment Has 75% of Its Stock Portfolio in 5 AI Stocks. Genius Move or Dangerous Trap?

Harvard's $68 billion endowment has concentrated 75% of its public equity portfolio in five AI-focused stocks: SpaceX (52%), TSMC (8%), Cerebras (6%), Amazon (5.5%), and Alphabet (4%). While this concentration appears risky, it represents only about 3% of the total endowment. The article analyzes each holding's growth potential in AI infrastructure, cloud computing, and space technology. (The Motley Fool, Oct 22, 3:45 PM ET)

3. SpaceX Launches Super Intelligence Partner Network to Expand Grok's Enterprise Reach

SpaceX has introduced a new partner program designed to provide businesses with training, tools, and support for adopting its Grok artificial intelligence model. (Fiscal.ai, Oct 22, 3:01 PM ET)

4. What's Going On with AST SpaceMobile Shares On Thursday?

AST SpaceMobile shares fall toward their 52-week low as broader market weakness, SpaceX’s earnings beat, a spectrum dispute and a pending class action weigh on sentiment. (Benzinga, Oct 22, 2:39 PM ET)

5. 'He Thrives on Chaos' — Elon Musk's First Wife Says He Can 'Jump Off the Edge of a Cliff and Invent a Parachute on the Way Down'

Elon Musk's first wife says, "He thrives on chaos.' (Benzinga, Oct 22, 2:00 PM ET)

6. Tesla Q3 Results Overshadowed by SpaceX Merger Talk: Analysts Struggle to See ‘Meaningful Upside’ From Deal

Talks of a merger between Tesla and SpaceX are overshadowing the auto company's Q3 results. Here's what analysts are saying. (Benzinga, Oct 22, 1:49 PM ET)

7. 'Intel Plus Elon' Could Pose Bigger Threat to TSMC Than Musk Alone, Chip Analyst Says

Chip analyst Jay Goldberg says Intel’s manufacturing expertise could make Musk’s Terafab a much bigger threat to TSMC. (Benzinga, Oct 22, 1:43 PM ET)

8. SpaceX Analyst Sees an Empire Taking Shape in Orbit

Bank of America raised SpaceX’s target to $275 after a Q3 beat and bold Starship forecasts, while a Tesla merger remains uncertain. (Benzinga, Oct 22, 1:32 PM ET)

Price Action

Metric	Value
Open	$154.21
High	$154.255
Low	$143.21
Close	$144.745
Change vs prior close	-9.14% (prior close $159.31)
Volume	166,545,390 (prior session: 220,895,872)
Intraday range	$11.04
Close vs IPO	-10.07% vs the IPO-day close of $160.95; +7.22% vs the $135.00 IPO offer price

Sellers controlled the session from the open. The stock traded within a few cents of its high at the start, then fell about $11 from there. Volume was below the prior session's 220.9 million but above the running average of 97.3 million shares, and the volume-vs-average indicator reads 1.55. A large decline on above-average volume carries more weight than the same decline on thin trading. The close is still above the $135.00 offer price and below the $160.95 first-day close.

SPCX gave back the prior session's entire gain on heavy volume and closed near the low of the day.

Technicals

SPCX has traded for about four months, so its history is short. The 200-day moving average is not available, and the 14-day RSI and the 20 and 50-day averages come from a young series and should be read as rough reference points, not established signals. The analysis below rests mainly on price structure, candle shape, volume and real price levels.

Trend

The longer path is a rise to a $201.80 close on June 16, a slide to $108.27 on August 5, and a recovery into a range of roughly $143 to $155 through September. The stock broke above that range in early October, closing at $171.92 on October 6. It then faded back to $146.03 on October 16 and has now returned to the lower part of the range. Today's close of $144.745 is below the 5-day average (149.17), the 10-day average (152.91), the 20-day average (155.08) and the 50-day average (149.12). The 14-day RSI is 44.08, below the midpoint of 50 but not at an extreme.

Candle read

The candle is a large bearish body. It opened at $154.21 and closed at $144.745, a body of -$9.47 on a total range of $11.04. The upper wick is $0.04, so buyers made almost no attempt to push higher after the open. The lower wick is $1.53, and the close sits at 0.14 of the day's range, in the bottom 14%. That shape shows selling pressure that persisted to the close without a late recovery.

Support levels

• $143.21: today's low, the first level to watch.
• $143.49: the September 15 close, close to today's low, so the two form one zone.
• $140.00: a round number, near several late-August and early-September closes.
• $135.00: the IPO offer price, also near the August 24 close.

Resistance levels

• $147.79: the October 20 close, just above today's close.
• $150.00: a round number, close to the 5-day average (149.17) and the 50-day average (149.12).
• $154.255: today's high, which is also near the open.
• $159.31: the prior close, which today's decline fully reversed.
• $160.95: the IPO-day close.

Momentum interpretation

Bull case: the stock holds above $143.21 and recovers $147.79, then $150. A close above $154.255 would show that the day's selling has been absorbed, and $159.31 would be the next level to watch.

Bear case: a close below $143.21 and $143.49 puts the stock under the September range low. The next levels to watch are $140.00 and then the $135.00 offer price.

Neutral case: the stock stays between $143.21 and $150.00 while the market absorbs the earnings and merger headlines. The recent pattern of sharp moves in both directions could produce more wide-range sessions.

Trading Takeaway

Today's session reversed the prior day's gain: a gap-free open near the high, a steady decline, and a close near the low on above-average volume. Headlines on Q3 results, a possible Tesla merger and an analyst target increase were all present on a day the stock fell 9.14%, so the news did not set the direction of the price. Price sits below its short and medium averages, with RSI at 44.08.

For the next session, the levels to watch are $143.21 to $143.49 below and $147.79 and $150.00 above. How the stock trades relative to those levels, and whether volume stays elevated, will show whether today's decline continues or stabilizes.

Sources

1. SpaceX Just Crushed Wall Street's Q3 Targets -- but a Potential Tesla Merger Is Even Bigger News, The Motley Fool
2. SpaceX Shoots Up Post Q3: Is More Upside Ahead for SPCX ETF?, Zacks Investment Research
3. SpaceX Just Became an AI Company. The Numbers Prove It., The Motley Fool
4. SpaceX Analyst Sees an Empire Taking Shape in Orbit, Benzinga
5. What's Going On with AST SpaceMobile Shares On Thursday?, Benzinga
6. AMD Stock Drops 7% in Chip Sell-Off - Here's Why, Benzinga
7. CoreWeave Stock Is Getting Crushed — But Daniel Newman Says the Selloff Is a 'Psyop', Benzinga
8. Alpaca Markets (SIP) — market data

Disclaimer

This report is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Market data and news summaries may contain errors or delays, so verify all figures independently with primary sources before making any financial decision.