The company said on Wednesday that it plans to list its shares at $135 each. The offering would value SpaceX at around $1.77tn (€1.56tn), making it one of the world's most valuable listed companies and potentially the largest IPO in history.
SpaceX says it plans to raise up to $75 billion (€66bn) in its long-awaited stock market debut, a move that would make it the largest initial public offering (IPO) on record and significantly boost the wealth of founder Elon Musk, potentially making him the world's first trillionaire.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., said on Wednesday that it plans to sell 555.6 million shares at $135 each. The offering would surpass the $26bn (€23bn) raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019 and value SpaceX at approximately $1.77 trillion (€1.56tr).
Such a valuation would place SpaceX among the world's most valuable listed companies. Only a handful of firms are currently worth more, including Nvidia, whose market capitalisation stands at around $5.2tr (€4.6tr).
Musk's control remains
The IPO would also increase the value of Musk's stake in the company by an estimated $223bn (€196bn), according to Forbes calculations. That could push his net worth above the $1 trillion (€880bn) mark on paper, though much of his wealth remains tied to company stock.
The updated filing also underlines Musk's control over the company. Through his holdings of Class B shares, which carry 10 votes each, the SpaceX chief executive would retain roughly 82.4% of voting power after the listing.
Losses persist despite soaring valuation
Even as it makes a bid for a blockbuster market debut, SpaceX is currently losing billions of dollars a year. Regulatory filings show the company posted an operating loss of $2.6bn (€2.3bn) last year on revenue of $18.7 bn (€16.5bn), with losses continuing into the early months of 2026.
The IPO prospectus outlines ambitious plans for future growth, including funding missions to the Moon and Mars and expanding the Starlink satellite network. The document also reiterates Musk's long-standing goal of establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars, with "at least one million inhabitants" as existential threats loom that could consign man to "the same fate as the dinosaurs".
AI ambitions become central to growth plans
Artificial intelligence features prominently in SpaceX's growth strategy. n its IPO filing, SpaceX said the global market for AI could be worth up to $26.5 trillion (€23.4tr). Though some of its plans — including space-based data centres — remain technologically unproven.
Analysts say AI will be crucial not only for SpaceX but also for Musk's broader business empire, including electric vehicle maker Tesla. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives has even suggested a future merger between the two companies.
However, SpaceX's AI credentials face scrutiny. Musk's AI venture, xAI, has struggled to keep pace with rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic, according to industry analysts.
Its main AI product, the chatbot Grok, is "less impressive than anything that we see from any other major player in the space, whether that's OpenAI, or Anthropic, or (Google's) Gemini," said IDC analyst Arnal Dayaratna.
Dayaratna said that doesn't mean SpaceX doesn't have potential as a major AI player, thanks in part to its computing partnership with Anthropic and Musk's recent deal that gave SpaceX the rights to buy AI coding tool Cursor for $60 billion (€53bn) later this year, a move that could help it compete for enterprise customers currently using products from OpenAI and Anthropic.
SpaceX plans to use the net proceeds from the IPO to fund the expansion of infrastructure for its AI and rocket businesses, and to beef up the constellation of satellites that power Starlink Mobile, among other investments.
The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol "SPCX" and could begin trading as soon as the end of next week.
And SpaceX isn't the only colossal market debut investors are now bracing for. Earlier this week, Anthropic submitted a confidential filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to officially start its own IPO clock.
OpenAI has not yet reported filing the initial SEC paperwork, but an IPO from the ChatGPT maker is widely expected.
"This listing represents the first major test for public markets after years of muted IPO activity, with SpaceX paving the way for AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI to follow soon after," Ives wrote.
