Are Microsoft and Amazon holding AI chips they cannot power?
Published . Updated . EXCLUSIVE: SpaceX's Second $500B (10 Gigawatts) Explained.
What is the short answer?
Microsoft's chief executive said on November 2, 2025 that chips were sitting in inventory he could not plug in, and Business Insider reported Amazon had about $5 billion of Nvidia racks waiting on power. Those reports are about power at two cloud companies. They are not a SpaceX data center already online. On its October 20, 2026 earnings call, SpaceX said it was highly confident of adding 10 gigawatts of compute in 2027 and would be surprised to end that year below 13 gigawatts in total. It described 20 gigawatts of incremental power and cooling if the build goes well, and only a small chance of more than 20 gigawatts of compute. The episode framed 20 gigawatts of compute as a case that could mean $500 billion to $1 trillion of annual recurring revenue. The earnings call did not state that revenue figure.
Research and education, not investment advice. Brighter Finance is not affiliated with Tesla, SpaceX or Elon Musk.
What did the episode report?
Each line is a news item stored with this episode. The date is the day the video was published. Timing words in a line are copied from the episode.
On November 2, 2025, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said the constraint he was facing was power, not a glut of chips: "you may actually have a bunch of chips sitting in inventory that I can't plug in." He said the problem was not having powered buildings to plug them into. That interview is not a 2026 delivery report, and it is not a SpaceX capacity figure.
you may actually have a bunch of chips sitting in inventory that I can't plug in.
Business Insider reported in October 2026 that Amazon Web Services expected to receive roughly $5 billion of Nvidia GB300 server racks before final deployment, and that some sites had room for racks but not enough power to turn them on. People familiar with the effort said finished equipment was staged in warehouses until the buildings were ready. Racks in a warehouse are not compute already online.
On its October 20, 2026 earnings call, SpaceX said it was highly confident of adding 10 gigawatts of compute in 2027 and would be surprised to finish that year with less than 13 gigawatts of compute in total. It described a plan for 20 gigawatts of incremental power and cooling if things go right, and only a small possibility of more than 20 gigawatts of compute. Those are targets from the call, not capacity already in service. The 20-gigawatt line on the call is incremental power and cooling, not a promise of 20 gigawatts of compute.
Source: SpaceX Q3 2026 earnings call transcriptPlay this moment on YouTube
The episode framed 20 gigawatts of compute next year as a case that could mean $500 billion to $1 trillion of annual recurring revenue, and it discussed a separate forecast of a second 10 gigawatts in 2027. Those figures were part of the episode. They are not the targets SpaceX stated on the earnings call, and they are not revenue already booked.
Yahoo Finance reported that Anthropic's registration statement discloses an agreement to spend up to $120.5 billion on SpaceX compute through 2029, about $3.1 billion a month once capacity is delivered, which Anthropic expects in December 2026. Yahoo Finance says the $120.5 billion figure is a maximum, and that after initial periods ending in January and March 2027 either side can end the agreements on 90 days' notice. A monthly rate discussed on the episode is not cash already received.
From the show discussion
These lines restate points from the show discussion. They are not a Brighter Finance forecast, and they are not investment advice.
- The discussion argued that chips sitting in inventory are not compute already online.
- The discussion argued that a gigawatt target on an earnings call is not capacity already in service.
- The discussion argued that a revenue case discussed on the episode is not a figure from that call.
- The discussion argued that a maximum customer commitment through 2029 is not cash already received.
Where is the video?
Watch on YouTubeStart 7-day free trial$12.50/mo, billed $150/yr. Cancel anytime