SpaceX shares plummeted on Wednesday hours after the firm unveiled its first set of quarterly results since its blockbuster float.

SpaceX shares were down 9.32 per cent to $113.65 on Wednesday, having dropped nearly 30 per cent in the past year.  

The rocket firm led by Elon Musk reported a near-doubling of revenues to $7.8billion between April and June, up 92 per cent from $4.1billion a year earlier.

Shares initially rose by as much as 8 per cent after quarterly revenues beat Wall Street forecasts of $6.8billion, while a net loss of $541million was better than analysts had expected.

However, concerns over spending on artificial intelligence – which jumped from $10billion to $18.4billion between the first and second quarters – saw shares plunge in after-hours trading. 

The firm said spending would remain at current levels for at least two more quarters.

And shares could fall further when US markets open this afternoon, following news that one of SpaceX's discarded rockets had crashed into the moon's surface at 5,400 miles per hour. 

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, in January last year. 

'Investors still need proof that it can become a profitable business rather than an expensive engineering experiment,' said Sam North, market analyst at Etoro.

Musk told investors that SpaceX planned to increase its computing capacity from 2 gigawatts to closer to 10 gigawatts by 2027. Each gigawatt reportedly costs tens of billions of dollars to develop, most of which is spent on chips.

After shares fell, Musk said that people seemed to be 'underestimating' the group. He cited the fact satellite internet arm Starlink brought in $1.6billion in the period.

'It's not out of the question that, at some point, Starlink will operate most of the world's internet,' Musk said.

Revenue from artificial intelligence more than trebled quarter-on-quarter to $2.56billion, driven by deals leasing data centre capacity to the likes of Anthropic and Google.

Meanwhile, space revenues grew 29 per cent year-on-year to $962million.

It is the first time SpaceX has reported its results since Musk took the company public in June. It raised $75billion, valuing the firm at $2trillion, the world's biggest initial public offering (IPO).

Musk, who holds a 42 per cent stake in SpaceX, said it had been 'a momentous year so far, and the second quarter demonstrated the true power of SpaceX.'

SpaceX shares have lagged since an initial boost in the days after the IPO to a peak of $201. Last month, they dropped below the listing price of $135 and have struggled to gain momentum since as traders turn away from AI stocks.

There are fears that the end of the 180 day 'lock-up' period on Thursday will further depress the share price.

Investors who bought or owned SpaceX shares before they were listed on the stock market can cash in their holdings tomorrow, which could flood the market.

North of Etoro added: 'This quarter buys Musk credibility and time, but with the lock-up expiry approaching and the shares already below their IPO level, SpaceX will need to keep producing exceptional numbers to prevent its valuation from returning to Earth.'