Market Update

SpaceX Earnings, a Possible Tesla Merger, and Nvidia's Containerized AI Systems

By Corey HinklePublished October 21, 2026

The short answer

On October 21, 2026, Corey Hinkle covered SpaceX's earnings released the day before, the possible merger with Tesla, and a new Nvidia product that packages AI computing racks in a shipping container. He also contrasted SpaceX with CoreWeave. These are opinions in a financial education presentation, not forecasts or advice.

Full video transcript

[0:07] Elon Musk continues to be the most shareholder-friendly CEO of all time. I'll show you in today's show why SpaceX stocks are surging today, how it connects to Tesla with the potential merger between the two companies. We'll look at a little more detail into the SpaceX earnings that were released yesterday. [0:28] And an important announcement from Nvidia that I do think is very bullish, really. And then kind of how that's filtering through to the rest of the S&P 500. Before I begin, I must remind you, this is a financial education presentation. You must do own due diligence. Before acting on anything you hear in this presentation, more disclaimer information we found on Ankerstar Wealth.com. The opinions expressed are mine alone. [0:48] Markets are mostly flat today there. The S&P 500 up only eight hundredths of a percent with bonds, you know, moderating down just a bit, still holding 5% on the US 10 year and oil still holding near those highs, but not moving much today. We had some interesting news last night. We had the SpaceX earnings. [1:10] And we'll talk through that. And we have an announcement from Nvidia. We also have a really large, lots of companies releasing earnings. We're not going to talk about the Netflix earnings or I thought there were some interesting things in the 3M earnings yesterday. We're not going to talk about, we're not going to be able to get to all of it. So it'll be kind of a SpaceX specific show. [1:31] But then we will be hitting on some other big companies, like tonight we have Meta. There's lots of earnings news coming out these days. So we'll filter that down into the most interesting stories of this earnings season for you, the viewer. All right, real quick on Nvidia. [1:51] Nvidia announced a new product that will put seven of its Vera Rubin AI racks into a shipping container, the company's latest effort to move up the stack and offer complete systems for artificial intelligence computing. Here's what I think is most interesting here. This will, based on how it's being [2:11] made accessible to the purchaser, it will reduce the time for a new AI data center to start serving tokens from six months to 14 days. Essentially, it comes pre-packaged for you to just plug in and turn on. Now, you will have to source the electricity, but assuming you have the electricity, [2:29] You'll be ready to go from day 14. You'll be ready to go quick. You know, this is a little bit reminiscent. [2:37] I think we showed on the show how Meta is creating these tent cities at some of their data centers where it's like they have the chips, the infrastructure, you know, the chips are ahead of the infrastructure. And so Meta is just putting a really gentle shell in place where they can load racks of GPUs, get them plugged in and going, serving tokens, so they say here in the article. [3:01] This is kind of a next iteration of that. It does seem like AI related compute demand is still far exceeding capacity. That's what we are told. That's what the data seems to indicate. And so from that perspective, having a faster plug and play product available from NVIDIA does seem [6:49] Coreweave can't do that. [6:51] Coreweave only has one business, which would be the compute leasing business. Now, for SpaceX, something very interesting happened. Everyone, up to this point, everyone who was leasing compute in this way was running [7:10] was not profitable. Now, some of that's related to the cost of the infrastructure and the way it was funded through debt. Some of that is because it's not totally clear if that's going to ever be a good business model. That's why CoreWeave shareholders are [7:29] So, so hesitant to hold the stock. It's down even again today. Now, here's the weird thing though. SpaceX seems to have shown that in this quarter... [7:44] It's profitable as is. Now, how are they coming to this? I don't know all the details for exactly which expenses are making it through to the income from operations number. [8:02] But regardless of any like smaller details, this was unexpected. No one expected a large profit this soon in the data center build out. But, and you saw core weave stock jump overnight in connection to this, but now giving it back. So that's very interesting. [8:23] SpaceX seems to have proven that it is a viable business. People still don't know, based on how Coreweave is acting, if it is or not. Now keep in mind, again, Google, Amazon, Meta, and SpaceX, they do have other profitable businesses. [8:41] and SpaceX most profitable business being the Starlink business, that those profitable businesses are kind of can subsidize the grow out, the build out of AI data centers. Coreweave just doesn't have that luxury. [8:57] So maybe that's why the stock is still down, because again, you know, SpaceX can lean on the Starlink business if and when they need to. Very interesting. And you'd think that'd be bullish. Let's go see how other stocks are reacting. You are seeing those AI, that AI group of stock [9:18] continue back higher today. Now, have you fixed things with like a Seagate still below 700 or a Broadcom still not able to get its footing even in the face of this good news? You know, I don't know that you've really fixed anything from what we've talked about in the past week. [9:39] But nonetheless, it is an interesting development and an unexpected development. So SpaceX, and you can see down here where they show you the exact revenue benefit from [9:54] from the cursor acquisition. [9:59] Sorry, I didn't remember what page it was on. Right here. So primarily revenue growth in the super intelligence segment, primarily driven by activation of new cloud service agreements. So that's leasing, like that side of it we've talked about. And then the acquisition of cursor. [10:19] and increased Grok adoption. So Grok is kind of the dark horse of that. Very interesting. There's also the SpaceX potential merger with Tesla. [10:32] I don't, you know, it does make sense to me for Elon to try to bring all these things into the fold, in together, because there are people, one of the Grok's advantages is that it's like installed, it's readily available in all Teslas. [10:51] So every Tesla that gets sold comes complete with Grok included, and as a result, you know, you do get some forced adoption there. A little bit similar to how Apple can kind of force people to adopt certain things at times. [11:06] I do think a merger is inevitable. He mentioned on the call that they are going to be putting together a team to evaluate those prospects. But with so much, so many voting rights in Elon's hands, it does seem to be inevitable. And here's another thing. Here's what Elon does. We talked about the marketing, the genius levels of marketing, not only in how they present [11:27] financial statements, but even more broadly, how he kind of puts these dates way out in front as a way to prevent people from selling any of the stocks. So right now, some of those gated dates that sit out there are Optimus robots are expected to go in production in like 2029. [11:49] Something like that, O. [11:52] If people think, well, that could be a big revenue driver, you know, in the 2030s, I couldn't, I definitely can't sell my. [12:01] Then you can kind of hold on to those premium stock market valuations because you have a gated date that prevents people from selling. In practice, it doesn't always filter through that way. But in Elon's marketing strategy for these things, it does work that way. [12:21] Now, here's another one. He teased the idea. He teased multiple things. He said it could potentially reach a trillion dollars in revenue at SpaceX next year. I don't know that anyone's taking that serious, but he said it. So someone will take it serious. And so that helps. But then when you introduce that Tesla and SpaceX will merge or should be setting themselves up to merge, [12:46] People also think, well... [12:48] That, and then he can intentionally delay how long that takes. So that could be an 18 month process. You kind of get, well, I can't sell the stocks until they merge, or maybe I have gains in Tesla. I'm not going to sell any until I get merged with SpaceX. It won't fix my cost basis really, but it might help a little. So, and then beyond that, I'll have a larger entity to kind of diversify that holding. [13:11] I won't be so exposed to just Tesla. So he puts these dates out that it's like, well, I can't sell until they merge. Definitely can't sell until they merge, right? And he has multiple of these dates. And then by the time the Optimus robot or the merger actually does go through, he'll have introduced new dates that are multiple years out. It could be the trip to Mars. It could be [13:35] any number of things, some asteroid harvesting that they've mentioned or some data center in space. So he always has that card in his pocket to keep those premium valuations in the stocks. Very interesting. He's A one-of-a-kind CEO, most shareholder-friendly CEO of all time, and that would be Elon Musk. [13:55] Hey, thank you all so much for joining us. Of course, look forward to talking to you soon.

Key Takeaways

• Corey describes the broad market as mostly flat on the day, with bond yields and oil little changed, and says the update focuses on SpaceX because of its earnings release the night before.

• Nvidia announced a product that packages several of its AI computing racks into a shipping container. Corey says this could shorten the time it takes a new AI data center to start serving customers, provided the buyer can supply power.

• Corey notes that SpaceX's quarter showed a profit from its computing business earlier than he or others expected, while CoreWeave, which has a single compute-leasing business, did not hold the gain.

• He points to other profitable businesses at larger companies as one reason they can fund AI data center build-outs more easily than a single-business company.

• Corey believes a SpaceX and Tesla merger is likely, noting that management said it would form a team to evaluate it. A merger is not confirmed, and his views here are opinions, not predictions or advice.

What Did Today's Update Cover?

Corey opens by saying the show will focus on SpaceX's earnings, how they connect to a potential merger with Tesla, and an announcement from Nvidia, and then look at how the news is filtering through the broader stock market. He gives the standard reminder that the presentation is for financial education, that viewers should do their own due diligence, and that the opinions are his alone. He covers the introduction at (0:07) and (0:28).

He describes markets as mostly flat on the day, with bonds moderating and oil holding near recent highs but not moving much. He says he cannot cover every earnings report this season, so he is narrowing the show to the stories he finds most interesting, with another large company reporting that evening. He covers the market check at (0:48) and (1:10).

What Is Nvidia's Shipping-Container AI Product?

Corey describes an announcement that Nvidia will place several of its newest AI racks inside a shipping container, as part of a broader effort to offer complete systems rather than individual components. According to the article he read, the design is meant to reduce the time for a new AI data center to begin serving customers from roughly six months to about two weeks, assuming the buyer can source electricity. He covers this at (1:51) and (2:11).

He compares the idea to temporary shell structures another large company has used so that computing hardware can be installed and switched on before permanent buildings are complete. In his view, the product suggests AI computing demand still exceeds available capacity, which is what he says the data indicates. That is Corey's interpretation, and demand, supply, and pricing can change. He covers this at (2:37) and (3:01).

Why Did SpaceX's Earnings Stand Out Next to CoreWeave?

Corey notes that CoreWeave has one business, leasing computing capacity, while up to now the companies leasing compute in this way were not reporting profits. Part of that, he says, reflects infrastructure costs funded with debt, and part reflects uncertainty about whether the model will prove durable. He covers this at (6:51) and (7:10).

In his reading, SpaceX's quarter showed its computing business operating profitably, which he says was unexpected this early in the build-out. He adds that he does not know all the details of which expenses flow into the operating income figure. He observes that CoreWeave's shares moved up overnight and then gave the move back, and that larger companies with other profitable businesses, such as SpaceX with Starlink, can use those earnings to support AI build-outs in a way CoreWeave cannot. He covers this at (7:44), (8:23), and (8:41).

He also says that AI-related stocks moved higher again on the day, but that several semiconductor names had not recovered from recent weakness, so he does not see the news as having fixed earlier concerns. One company's results are limited evidence about an entire industry. He covers this at (8:57) and (9:18).

What Is Driving SpaceX's Growth, and What About a Tesla Merger?

Corey points to the earnings materials, which attribute revenue growth in the company's AI segment mainly to new cloud service agreements, an acquisition, and wider use of its Grok model. He calls Grok the dark horse of the group. He covers this at (9:59) and (10:19).

On the possible merger, Corey says it makes sense to him for the founder to combine these businesses, partly because Grok is already included in every Tesla sold, which encourages adoption. He believes a merger is likely given the founder's voting control and says management mentioned on the call that it would assemble a team to evaluate the idea. Nothing has been confirmed, and a merger could be delayed, restructured, or not occur. He covers this at (10:32) and (11:06).

Corey also shares his view that very long-dated milestones, such as products expected years from now, and a possible merger timeline can affect how long investors choose to hold a stock. He says in practice this does not always work as intended. This is his opinion about corporate communications, not a statement of fact about any company's intentions. He covers this at (11:27), (12:21), and (13:11).

CHAPTER 14: SYNTHESIS

The common thread is that one company's results can reshape how people think about an entire corner of the market. A profitable quarter from a large, diversified company says something different than the same result from a company with a single line of business, and the way a business is funded matters as much as the revenue it reports. Corey's discipline is to separate what was reported from what is hoped for, and to say plainly where he does not have the full details.

A durable plan does not depend on any one company, merger, or product announcement. Concentration in a few related holdings may increase risk, and long-dated corporate milestones are not a reason to hold or sell anything. Diversification and a written plan may help manage that risk, though neither can eliminate the possibility of loss.

Educational Disclaimer

This market update is a financial education presentation. It is not personalized investment advice, and it does not recommend any security, company, or strategy. Do your own due diligence before acting on anything you read or hear here. The opinions expressed are Corey's alone, and investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. More disclaimer information is available on the Disclosures page.

Put Market Context in Service of Your Plan

Headlines about earnings, mergers, and new products are most useful when they prompt better planning questions, such as how much of a portfolio sits in a single theme, how concentrated positions are handled for taxes, and how a long time horizon fits current risk.

Explore the firm's investment planning approach, or contact Ankerstar Wealth to discuss how these themes relate to your own planning questions. Any decision should reflect individual circumstances and a full review of risks, taxes, and trade-offs.

This article is general information, not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. Your situation is specific to you — talk to a qualified professional before acting on anything here.

Frequently asked questions

What did Nvidia announce in this update?

Corey described a product that places several AI computing racks inside a shipping container so a new data center could be switched on faster, assuming the buyer can provide power. He interprets it as a sign that demand for AI computing is still strong. That is his opinion, and demand and supply can change.

Why did SpaceX's earnings get attention compared with CoreWeave?

Corey said SpaceX's computing business appeared profitable earlier than expected, while CoreWeave, which has only a compute-leasing business, did not hold its overnight gain. He also noted that larger companies with other profitable businesses can fund AI build-outs differently. One quarter does not establish a trend.

Is a SpaceX and Tesla merger confirmed?

No. Corey said management mentioned forming a team to evaluate a combination and that he believes a merger is likely. That is his opinion. Any merger could be delayed, changed, or not happen, and the update does not predict an outcome.

Does this update recommend buying or selling any company?

No. The update is educational commentary and reflects Corey's opinions as of the recording. Whether any investment is appropriate depends on an individual's goals, finances, time horizon, tax situation, and tolerance for loss.

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