Listing on Nasdaq on June 12! SpaceX, with its 'space + AI' vision, aims for the largest IPO in history—what are the key highlights?

Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to list on Nasdaq on June 12 under the ticker symbol "SPCX," $Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX.US)$ The offering is poised to become the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. The company aims to raise $75 billion through the IPO, more than double the previous record holder.

This IPO is poised to become the capital market event of the year, offering investors an opportunity to participate in Musk’s ambitious vision of building a space and AI integrated conglomerate. Musk has outlined a series of expansion plans, including establishing data centers in space—ideas that are highly imaginative but entail enormous costs, significant risks, and multi-year timelines before generating returns.

SpaceX Valuation Reaches $1.77 Trillion; Analysts Express Skepticism

According to filings submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SpaceX plans to issue approximately 555.6 million shares at a fixed price of $135 per share. At this price, SpaceX’s market capitalization would approach $1.77 trillion.

It is reported that SpaceX has opted for a fixed offering price rather than the typical U.S. large-cap IPO practice of first announcing a price range and then determining the final price through a roadshow-based book-building process—a method relatively uncommon in the U.S. market but more prevalent in Asian and European markets.

SpaceX aims to raise $75 billion through its IPO, which would surpass the previous record of $29.4 billion set by Saudi Aramco in 2019.

The biggest question is whether such a high valuation can be sustained in the secondary market. Analysts typically assess a company’s value based on future earnings, growth potential, industry competitive dynamics, and profit margins, yet there is no universally accepted standard for valuation pricing. Particularly in a bull market, investors often deviate from fundamentals and are willing to pay substantial premiums for individual stocks.

Some investors believe that SpaceX’s promising space business prospects are sufficient to justify a valuation far exceeding what current financial statements would support. However, the company’s xAI division faces significant challenges, which could undermine SpaceX’s overall investment appeal.

Analysts have repeatedly expressed caution ahead of SpaceX’s listing. Morningstar stated bluntly that SpaceX’s target valuation is too high and that its realistic valuation may be less than half of the target. According to Nicolas Owens, a Morningstar analyst, his discounted cash flow model estimates SpaceX’s valuation at only $780 billion—comprising $611 billion for its space launch and Starlink internet businesses and approximately $170 billion for its artificial intelligence segment. In short, investors should not buy SpaceX shares at the IPO price.

PitchBook, a financial data firm specializing in private equity and venture capital, estimates that SpaceX’s fair valuation is $1.5 trillion, with the remainder representing premiums driven by space and AI narratives as well as the 'Musk halo effect.' Senior research analyst Franco Granda assigned Starlink a valuation of approximately $1.2 trillion and SpaceX’s launch and other businesses a valuation of about $300 billion, noting that the additional narrative-driven premium 'appears overly optimistic, even absurd.'

Behind SpaceX’s IPO: xAI Burns Through $1 Billion Per Month

Although SpaceX has generated substantial cash flow from its Starlink satellite broadband business, the company still requires additional capital to achieve its ambitious objectives. SpaceX has stated that proceeds from its initial public offering (IPO) will be used to expand its artificial intelligence computing infrastructure, enhance space infrastructure and rocket performance, and scale up its satellite constellation.

SpaceX could have opted to continue raising funds in private markets instead of pursuing an IPO. However, according to informed sources, the company’s funding needs appear to have increased significantly following its acquisition of xAI in February this year. xAI consumes approximately $1 billion in cash per month to cover expenses related to computing infrastructure, including training artificial intelligence models.

IPO filings show that SpaceX’s AI segment (including xAI) reported an operating loss of $6.4 billion last year and nearly $2.5 billion in losses during the first three months of 2026. However, SpaceX has recently secured an agreement under which Anthropic PBC will pay it $1.25 billion per month for AI computing capacity through May 2029.

Moreover, as a publicly listed company, SpaceX can tap into broader capital markets to secure funding for its AI business ahead of competitors OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which are reportedly planning IPOs this year with target fundraising amounts in the tens of billions of dollars.

Dan Ives, Managing Director of Global Technology Research at Wedbush Securities, described SpaceX’s initial public offering as a 'watershed event' that would not only break records but also set the tone for subsequent IPOs by OpenAI and Anthropic PBC. The veteran equity analyst remarked on Wednesday, 'Grab your popcorn—SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic—it’s going to be quite a show over the next few months.'

Expanding Its Footprint, SpaceX Transforms Into an Industry Titan

SpaceX has evolved from a startup challenger in the aerospace sector into a dominant industry giant with extensive U.S. government contracts and a critical role in supporting America’s space infrastructure. In addition to its rocket launch services and Starlink, SpaceX now owns xAI, the developer of the Grok chatbot, as well as the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

Following its acquisition of xAI, SpaceX has placed growing emphasis on artificial intelligence. Prospectus disclosures indicate that SpaceX’s total addressable market (TAM) amounts to $28.5 trillion, of which $26.5 trillion corresponds to its AI-related businesses.

Wall Street investment banks and investors are actively preparing.

The scale of this IPO is unprecedented on Wall Street, attracting intense interest from bankers. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citi, and JPMorgan are leading a syndicate of 23 investment banks.

The underwriting banks will accept subscription orders from institutional investors. At the same time, retail investors can also place orders through brokers. Millions of retail investors using popular trading platforms such as Robinhood Markets, SoFi Technologies, and E*Trade—a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley—will be able to place orders directly through these platforms.

On the day before trading begins, SpaceX and the banks will finalize the offering price and total number of shares to be issued. The pricing process must balance the interests of existing shareholders and new investors—existing shareholders are reluctant to issue too many shares, which would dilute their ownership stakes, while new investors hope to secure allocations to capture gains from the listing.

What risks does the listing entail?

For SpaceX, a key drawback of an IPO is that the company will be required to publicly disclose its financial results every quarter and face scrutiny from Wall Street analysts and public investors.

Moreover, if the stock price experiences significant volatility or plunges sharply due to negative news, its plans could also be affected.

How does the xAI deal impact SpaceX’s IPO?

Not everyone welcomes SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI prior to its IPO, as xAI continues to burn substantial amounts of cash, dragging down the valuation quality of high-performing assets like Starlink.

Investors who originally bet on the space sector will now be forced to hold artificial intelligence assets. Meanwhile, those bearish on the AI industry suddenly find themselves exposed to high-risk positions. If SpaceX comes to be perceived as an unwieldy conglomerate, its market valuation could fall short of expectations.

Moreover, SpaceX also faces intense competition in the field of artificial intelligence. It has been reported that OpenAI plans to go public later this year, and Anthropic may follow suit shortly thereafter. Both companies have already seen their valuations soar to hundreds of billions of dollars prior to their IPOs and are expected to surpass the $1 trillion mark after going public.

How will the IPO affect Musk’s control?

Musk holds absolute control over SpaceX, primarily because he owns the majority of the company’s Class B shares, which carry 10 votes per share. According to regulatory filings submitted by SpaceX, Elon Musk—the Tesla co-founder and world’s richest person—will retain approximately 82% of the voting power following the IPO.

In response, the nonprofit coalition Alliance to Protect Shareholder Value issued a statement criticizing SpaceX’s governance policies as "seeking to severely undermine shareholder protections in a novel and reckless manner while granting SpaceX leadership near-total executive authority."

Investors drawn to SpaceX’s potential and Musk’s track record may not be overly concerned; however, if the company’s operations become mismanaged, the high concentration of ownership could hinder investors’ ability to push for management changes.

SpaceX stated that it plans to reserve up to 5% of shares in its IPO for certain employees and close relatives of executives.

Additionally, SpaceX’s IPO is likely to further enrich members of the Trump administration. According to these officials’ most recent public financial disclosures, ten individuals—including presidential envoy Witkoff and U.S. Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler—have disclosed financial interests in either SpaceX or xAI. These filings indicate that the federal officials collectively hold SpaceX or xAI stock valued between at least $9.9 million and as much as $43.8 million.

How does Musk pitch the story to investors?

SpaceX’s core thesis is that it can become a leader in artificial intelligence by significantly boosting computing power through space-based data centers. However, since Musk is rebuilding the company’s AI business from the ground up, convincing investors may prove challenging.

Nonetheless, the company already dominates the commercial space sector, possesses substantial growth potential, and maintains strong ties to industries such as defense and telecommunications.

Starlink's global broadband business serves as a stable source of cash flow, while the massive Starship project continues to reinforce its competitive edge in rocket launch services. Meanwhile, Elon Musk leverages Tesla’s nearly 30-fold stock price increase over the past decade and the substantial returns delivered to early shareholders to attract a loyal base of investors—an endorsement that constitutes the most compelling promotional asset for this IPO.

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Editor/joryn