SpaceX bankers prepare for potential $20 billion bond offering, sources say

By Nupur Anand and Saeed Azhar

June 18 (Reuters) - SpaceX's bankers are preparing to meet investors as early as next week to discuss a bond offering of at least $20 billion, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, as Elon Musk's newly public company seeks funding for an ambitious and capital-intensive AI expansion.

SpaceX's AI ambitions come with a steep price tag, requiring tens of billions of dollars in investment for data centers, computing hardware and power infrastructure.

The offering would mark the first time the rockets-to-AI company has issued investment-grade dollar bonds. The size of the offering is not yet set and may change, the source said.

Proceeds from the debt offering would refinance a $20 billion bridge loan that SpaceX took out earlier this year, after acquiring Musk's AI startup xAI in February.

Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley provided the bridge financing and are expected to run the deal, one of the sources said.

The rockets-to-AI company's valuation surged past $2 trillion following its blockbuster Nasdaq debut last week. Its shares soared in their first two days of trading before giving up some gains as investors assessed whether the company's rich valuation can be justified by its costly AI push.

SpaceX, whose shares were down 6% in afternoon trading, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Bloomberg News had reported the bond offering earlier on Thursday.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Akash Sriram in New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Joyjeet Das)