Space Exploration Technologies Corp. delivered stronger-than-expected results in its first earnings report as a public company on Tuesday, but shares fell sharply in after-hours trading as investors focused on soaring artificial intelligence spending rather than the revenue beat, while CEO Elon Musk used the call to warn that a global memory chip shortage could keep prices elevated for years.

SpaceX, which began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX following its initial public offering in mid-June, reported second-quarter revenue of $7.8 billion, a 92% increase from a year earlier and well above the market forecast of roughly $6.93 billion. Despite the beat, shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading following the earnings release, extending a decline that has left the stock well below its IPO price in the weeks since the company's record-setting debut.

Capital Spending Spooks Investors

The market's negative reaction centered on the scale of SpaceX's capital expenditures, which reached $18.4 billion for the quarter, roughly a sixfold increase from a year earlier and an 81.7% jump from the $10.1 billion spent in the first quarter. Of that total, $15.8 billion was directed toward the company's artificial intelligence operations, a division that posted a $1.3 billion net operating loss for the period. SpaceX indicated that spending in the third and fourth quarters would likely remain at similarly elevated levels, a signal that appeared to unsettle investors already weighing questions about the sustainability of the company's AI ambitions following its record $1.75 trillion valuation at the time of........

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