SpaceX spent $295 million on Tesla Megapacks in Q2 2026, bringing its first-half total to $329 million, up from $506 million in 2025. This spending tracks Colossus expansion in Greater Memphis, where SpaceXAI is building toward 15–20 gigawatts of power by end of 2027.
Megapacks store energy, not generate it. Each holds 3.9 MWh; 420+ deployed units provide roughly 1.6 GWh of battery capacity—enough to absorb GPU cluster spikes without taxing the regional grid. At Colossus 1, SpaceXAI deployed 208 Megapacks before its permanent Memphis Light, Gas and Water substation came online. That substation took 97 days to build versus a typical 2.5 years. Batteries sustained baseline draw from on-site gas turbines while handling 250 MW draw from the training cluster.
Colossus targets approximately 580,000 NVIDIA GPUs (520,000 GB200s, 30,000 GB300s, and 30,000 H100/H200s) across three sites at 2 GW power capacity. The GB200-NVL72 configuration (72 GPUs per rack) implies roughly 8,000 racks at full deployment. Total infrastructure—buildings, power, cooling, networking, 420+ Megapacks—reaches $35–40 billion.
| GPU Model | Unit Count | Rack Config | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GB200 | 520,000 | NVL72 (72 GPUs/rack) | ~7,222 racks at GB200-NVL72 config |
| NVIDIA GB300 | 30,000 | — | Colossus 3 site |
| NVIDIA H100 / H200 | 30,000 | — | Existing / legacy nodes |
| Total GPUs | 580,000 | ~8,000 racks total | 2 GW power · $35–40 B infrastructure |
Power architecture is hybrid: Solaris Energy Infrastructure supplies 400 MW from mobile gas turbines (67% of its 600 MW capacity), while Megapacks buffer peaks. Turbine dependency created regulatory risk. In January 2026, EPA closed the portable turbine loophole that let xAI operate without air permits; 46 turbines ran unpermitted as of May 2026. Mississippi's Department of Environmental Quality approved 41 permanent turbines for Colossus 2 in Southaven over public opposition. The NAACP sued over Clean Air Act violations; DOJ intervened on SpaceXAI's behalf in June 2026.
On SpaceX's Q2 earnings call, Musk said: "Our tentative target is to have 20 gigawatts of power and cooling live online by the end of next year." He later acknowledged slippage: "I would expect something close to 15 gigawatts at the power plant level." SpaceX committed $2.8 billion to build its own natural gas infrastructure, reducing reliance on third-party turbine contractors.
Colossus 1 leases capacity to Anthropic at $1.25 billion per month through May 2029—$40 billion total. Google leased 110,000 Colossus 2 GPUs at $920 million per month through June 2029. Combined leases generate $2 billion monthly. The $90–160 million annual power bill represents under 1% of annual lease revenue. Megapack capex is similarly marginal.
| Tenant | GPUs Leased | Monthly Revenue | Contract End | Total Contract Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Colossus 1 capacity | $1.25 billion | May 2029 | $40 billion |
| 110,000 (Colossus 2) | $920 million | June 2029 | ~$33 billion | |
| Combined | — | ~$2 billion | — | ~$73 billion |
At 580,000-GPU scale, Megapacks function as the grid-stability layer enabling burst workloads without triggering utility outages. GPU clusters above 50 MW should size battery buffering alongside compute procurement, not after grid problems emerge.