Musk Says Government Work Will Fall Below 10% of SpaceX Revenue This Quarter, Offers to Cancel Any Contract Washington Doesn't Want
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to X on November 6 to answer Democratic criticism of his companies' government contracts, saying government revenue will account for less than 10% of SpaceX's total revenue this quarter and less than 5% a year from now, and that he is happy to cancel any contract the government does not want.
The post came in reply to a user who had suggested Musk offer Democrats a list of contracts to cancel. Musk wrote that Tesla has no government contracts and that President Trump ended federal electric-vehicle incentives. SpaceX's contracts with the government, he said, are "BOTH the best product AND the lowest price." He then gave the two figures — government revenue below 10% of SpaceX revenue this quarter and below 5% a year from now — and closed: "Happy to cancel any that the government doesn't want. Just say the word!"
Later the same day, Musk posted that SpaceX's revenue this quarter alone will be substantially higher than NASA's entire annual budget. Claims that SpaceX is subsidized by NASA are false, he wrote; NASA provided about 5% of SpaceX revenue, and the company earned its contracts by offering the best product at the lowest price.
The percentages come from Musk's own posts. They are his projections for this quarter and the year ahead, SpaceX has issued no formal announcement confirming them, and they can only be checked once the company reports fourth-quarter results. Public figures offer a comparison: SpaceX's total revenue in the third quarter was $14.6 billion; Bloomberg has reported that government work accounted for about 16.6% of revenue in the preceding quarter; and the company's pre-listing filing put U.S. government agencies at roughly one-fifth of its 2025 revenue. A drop below 10% this quarter would continue that steady decline.
The exchange follows the midterm elections, in which Democrats retook both chambers of Congress and several Democratic lawmakers said they intend to investigate Musk and his companies' dealings with the government. This week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote to Musk asking SpaceX to preserve records on restrictions placed on its Starshield system in Ukraine, ahead of a probe planned for January. Musk spent nearly $500 million backing Republican candidates in the midterms, without preventing the Democratic sweep.
As of publication, Democrats had issued no formal response to Musk's post, and SpaceX had provided no further comment.
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Source: Elon Musk
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：SpaceX一枚猎鹰9号火箭发射升空（2021年6月30日Transporter-2任务，资料图）。照片：美国太空军，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off on the Transporter-2 mission, June 30, 2021 (file photo). Photo: U.S. Space Force, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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