SpaceX director Antonio Gracias structured $20 billion in GPU lease deals with his firm Valor Equity Partners while holding roughly 7.3% of SpaceX as second-largest individual shareholder ahead of IPO

An xAI subsidiary called CTC signed three equipment lease agreements with Valor Equity Partners—in October 2025, January 2026, and April 2026—obligating SpaceX to pay Valor close to $20 billion over their terms. SpaceX guarantees the payments, meaning if the xAI subsidiary cannot cover them, SpaceX itself is on the hook. So far, Valor entities have collected roughly $885 million from the leases in 2025, and another $857 million in just the first two months of 2026.

SpaceX's auditor PwC classified the deals as 'failed sale leasebacks' and treated them as loans rather than leases, because the xAI subsidiary retained effective control of the GPU assets. The $9 billion now sits on SpaceX's balance sheet as related-party debt payable to the firm of one of SpaceX's own directors. SpaceX's S-1 does not include language stating the Valor lease terms are 'no less favorable' than what an unaffiliated party would have received—language the company uses elsewhere in the filing for other related-party transactions.

Corporate governance experts expressed concern about the arrangement. Nell Minow, chair of ValueEdge Advisors, called it 'deeply troubling' and 'the worst' example of related-party deals she has seen across four decades, stating the terms would not withstand the 'arm's-length transaction' test—whether the deal would hold up if the two parties were strangers. The S-1 does not disclose whether Gracias recused himself from the board's approval of any of the three deals.