Cathie Wood: Starship Launches and Revenue Projections
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood's optimism on SpaceX's Starship and its impact on Starlink's revenue potential
Starship's Recent Launch
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) successfully launched Starship Flight 14 from Starbase, Texas, deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites into orbit.
The launch was not without complications, as a Raptor 3 engine had to be relit for orbital insertion after shutting down during ascent.
Starship's Role in Starlink
Starship is a critical component for Starlink's expansion, as V3 satellites are specifically designed to be launched on Starship.
The launch cadence of Starship directly impacts the capacity SpaceX can deploy in orbit and sell.
ARK Invest's Analysis
ARK Invest's Sam Korus highlighted the significance of V3 satellites, which are capable of carrying 1 Tbps and weigh less than 2,000kg.
ARK CEO Cathie Wood expressed her enthusiasm, calling Starship "off the charts" and noting its potential to add 60 Tbps of downlink capacity per flight.
Revenue Projections
Wood projected that each Starship launch could generate $1 billion in revenue, based on a pricing of about $19 million per Tbps.
Analysts have a consensus that quarterly revenue will grow from $7.81 billion in Q2 2026 to $29.10 billion by Q3 2027, a 3.7 times increase in five quarters.
Capital Expenditure Breakdown
SpaceX's capital expenditure in Q2 2026 was $18.37 billion, with $15.83 billion allocated to AI and $2.54 billion to connectivity and space.
The relatively low expenditure on Starship suggests it could be a cost-effective component of SpaceX's operations.
“Starship is off the charts!”
— Cathie Wood, ARK Invest CEO
By Chaos Lab · 妙答星球AI