Starlink brought in $4.3 billion in connectivity revenue last quarter — a segment figure, not SpaceX’s group total, which came in at $7.8 billion once artificial-intelligence compute and launch work are added. Satellite internet and AI are now the two engines driving the company’s results, according to reports from The Market Periodical and a Zacks Investment Research piece carried by Yahoo Finance. The Market Periodical reported on 19 September 2026 that SPCX, the SpaceX listing on Nasdaq, traded around $151 to $152 on 18 September, and that Starship Flight 14 — the mission set to deploy Starlink V3 satellites — is planned for 28 September.
What the numbers say
Zacks reported that Starlink connectivity revenue reached $4.3 billion, up 66% year-over-year, with subscribers doubling year-over-year to 12 million, while compute revenue reached $2.6 billion, up 247%, on management’s statement that SpaceX has about 1 gigawatt of compute today and is targeting 10 gigawatts for 2027. Group revenue jumped 92% year-over-year to $7.8 billion and net losses narrowed to $143 million from $541 million, beating Wall Street expectations, per the same report, while capital expenditure grew more than 600% to $18.37 billion — spending Zacks attributed to AI buildouts and Starship research and development rather than to the consumer network specifically.
The shape of those numbers matters as much as their size: on Zacks’ own figures, Starlink revenue grew roughly two-thirds while the customer base doubled, so the average subscriber is contributing less than a year ago, even as the loss-making group moves towards break-even. The Market Periodical, reporting a month later, said the shares were on track for a fourth consecutive weekly gain, having recovered roughly 45% from an August low.
What this means for Starlink customers
Price: what the reports do and don’t say
Neither report publishes a consumer price list, a hardware cost or a country-by-country tariff, so anyone searching for what Starlink will cost next year will not find a direct answer in these results. What the figures do show is directional. Connectivity revenue rose 66% while subscribers doubled, which on those two numbers alone means average revenue per subscriber fell over the year. The reports do not explain the cause, and there are several innocuous candidates — cheaper regional plans, promotional pricing, a growing share of lower-cost markets, or mid-year sign-ups counted for only part of the period — none of which the sources confirm.
The strongest signal on pricing intent comes from Musk himself. Zacks quoted him saying the V3 satellite is “about an order of magnitude more capable than the Starlink V2,” and adding that even if monetisation per bit dropped by a factor of 10, that would still mean a 10x increase in Starlink revenue. That is a description of a business model that expects to sell far more capacity at a far lower price per unit — consistent with falling cost per gigabyte over time, though not a commitment to lower monthly bills.
Capacity and congestion
For existing users in busy cells, the relevant number is not $4.3 billion but the V3 hardware. The Market Periodical said Flight 14 will be the first mission to send Starship into orbit around Earth and will help SpaceX deploy Starlink V3 satellites, which it described as bringing meaningful increases in capacity, data density and power generation. Those gains only reach customers once the satellites are in orbit and operating at scale, and on the reports’ own timeline the first orbital deployment flight had still not flown as of 19 September.
Availability and rollout pace
Capital expenditure of $18.37 billion and a fourth straight weekly share-price gain both make it easier, not harder, for SpaceX to keep funding launches and ground infrastructure — but Zacks tied that spending to AI and Starship development, so it should not be read as a direct measure of consumer network expansion. On geography, the 12 million subscriber figure is the only customer number in the reports, and none of them breaks it down by country or region.
Where Starlink growth is coming from
Zacks reported that Starlink is expanding beyond remote home broadband into higher average-revenue-per-user segments including enterprise, aviation, maritime and defence. The same report said Starlink will be unveiling a direct-to-cell mobile connectivity service to take on legacy telecom companies including AT&T and T-Mobile, the two US carriers; outside the United States, a regulator has already cleared a mobile operator to work with Starlink’s direct-to-cell service.
That mix shift cuts both ways for household customers. Business, aviation and maritime accounts pay more per user, which supports group revenue without requiring higher residential prices; equally, capacity sold to those segments is capacity not sold to consumers in the same coverage cells. The reports do not disclose how the 12 million subscribers split between residential and commercial accounts. Readers tracking where the service goes next can compare the current figure with Wells Fargo’s forecast of 47 million Starlink subscribers by 2028.
The AI compute contracts
The Market Periodical said SpaceX recently signed a new client who will pay it $1 billion a month starting in December this year, and that the unnamed company joins Google and Anthropic, the AI developers, which it said are paying $950 million and $1.25 billion a month respectively. Zacks, reporting a month earlier, said top-line growth was being driven by contracts from Alphabet, Google’s parent, and Anthropic, and called AI hardware the company’s fastest-growing business segment.
The Market Periodical also said Starship is the vehicle SpaceX will likely use to deploy AI servers in space in future, and that the company spent more than $18.3 billion on capital expenditure last quarter with billions more planned this year. For Starlink users the compute business is relevant mainly as a competing claim on the same launch capacity: every Starship flight assigned to orbital servers is a flight not filled with V3 satellites, and neither report sets out how SpaceX intends to divide the manifest.
Starship’s test record so far
Zacks said Starship’s 13th test flight in July achieved several firsts: the heat shield survived atmospheric reentry entirely intact for the first time, the vehicle deployed 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, and the Super Heavy booster achieved a controlled descent, although with a hard splashdown. Starlink News previously reported that Flight 13 carried 20 Starlink V3 satellites on a suborbital path, consistent with The Market Periodical’s statement that Flight 14 would be the first to reach orbit. A suborbital deployment demonstrates the dispenser and the satellites’ survival on ascent; it does not put working capacity over customers, which is why the 28 September mission is the one that matters for service quality.
The stock and the analysts
Price action
Zacks said SpaceX became the largest initial public offering in history earlier this year at a valuation near $2 trillion, and that the shares then fell 53% from their peak — a drawdown it compared with the 55% average for tech IPOs within a year of listing. The Market Periodical said the shares remain well below their post-IPO high, reached after SpaceX began trading on Nasdaq in June, and put the stock at roughly $151 to $152 on 18 September after a recovery of about 45% from the August low.
Revenue forecasts
The Market Periodical said analysts expect revenue of about $44.82 billion this year, up from $18 billion last year, rising to more than $108 billion next year, with the most optimistic estimates at $51.2 billion and $151 billion respectively. Those are consensus and high-end estimates for the group, not Starlink alone, and the reports do not break the forecasts down by segment.
Analyst targets and ratings
The Market Periodical said Julie Zhu of MoffettNathanson raised her price target from $131 to $142, William Blair reiterated an outperform rating, and Pivotal Research, Oppenheimer, Bernstein and Morgan Stanley reiterated bullish views.
Where the reports disagree
The two accounts do not match on the share-price extremes. The Market Periodical cited a post-IPO high of $225.64 and an August low near $104.83, and later in the same article referred to a low of $104.60 and a current price of $154; Zacks put the high at $225.78 and the low at $105.62. The gaps are small — cents on the high, about a dollar on the low — but they indicate the two outlets are reading different intraday or closing series, so neither set should be quoted as definitive.
On sourcing: the Zacks text also appears in a Globe and Mail press-release republication of the same article. This report relies on the Yahoo Finance version, dated 11 August 2026, for all Zacks figures and quotations.
The Market Periodical stated that its article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice, and that analyst targets, technical patterns and long-term revenue projections do not guarantee future stock performance. Starlink News does not offer investment advice; the per-subscriber arithmetic above is derived from figures published by Zacks and is presented as an observation, not a company disclosure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the reports say how much a Starlink subscription costs?
No. Neither the Zacks Investment Research piece carried by Yahoo Finance nor The Market Periodical’s 19 September 2026 article publishes consumer plan pricing, hardware prices or per-country tariffs. The only user-economics detail in either report is Zacks’ statement that Starlink is pushing into higher average-revenue-per-user segments — enterprise, aviation, maritime and defence — and Musk’s remark that even if monetisation per bit fell by a factor of 10, Starlink revenue would still rise tenfold. Note also that on the reported figures, connectivity revenue grew 66% while the subscriber base doubled, so average revenue per subscriber fell over the year; the reports do not say why.
Is $4.3bn SpaceX’s total revenue?
No. According to Zacks, $4.3 billion is Starlink connectivity revenue for the quarter, up 66% year-over-year. SpaceX’s group revenue was $7.8 billion, up 92% year-over-year, with compute revenue of $2.6 billion, up 247%, making up most of the rest. The two figures are often conflated in coverage of the results.
When is Starship Flight 14, and what is it carrying?
The Market Periodical reported that Flight 14 is planned for 28 September 2026, that it will be the first mission to send Starship into orbit around Earth, and that it will help SpaceX deploy Starlink V3 satellites, which the report described as bringing meaningful increases in capacity, data density and power generation.
What revenue has Elon Musk said SpaceX will reach, and by when?
On the company’s earnings call, Musk said he now expects SpaceX to reach $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, with what he called a “non-zero” chance of hitting it in 2029, according to the Zacks report carried by Yahoo Finance. Musk also said annual recurring revenue should reach $100 billion by the end of the year, up from a $10.4 billion run rate in June.
What are the longest-range revenue forecasts for SpaceX?
The Market Periodical reported that Morgan Stanley, which took part in the IPO, believes SpaceX will generate more than $3.4 trillion in revenue in 2033. The same report said Musk has put his own estimate above $3.5 trillion. These are long-range projections, not results.
How much can Starship carry once it is operational?
Zacks reported that once Starship is up and running it will be able to deliver up to 300 metric tons to space, roughly five times more than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Starship is described in that report as currently in testing and the largest flying manmade object.
What price levels are analysts and chart-watchers pointing to for SPCX?
The Market Periodical said the shares have held above the 50-period exponential moving average and formed an ascending triangle pattern, with bulls targeting the psychological $200 level. The same report said a retreat below support at $140 would invalidate that bullish view, and noted its analysis is informational only and not investment advice.
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