Elon Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX, is preparing to go public, with a valuation expected to exceed $1 trillion, potentially making Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
Gatekeepers News reports that the privately held firm, known for rockets, space exploration technology, and Starlink satellites, made a confidential filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday for an initial public offering (IPO). This filing allows SpaceX to request feedback from regulators while keeping certain financial details private. Reports indicate the company aims for a public listing in June.
By offering shares to the public, SpaceX hopes to raise $50 billion or more. Earlier this year, the company completed an all-stock merger with Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, xAI, consolidating it under SpaceX. This move is believed to have pushed SpaceX’s internal valuation to $1.25 trillion, making it the most valuable private company globally.
Emily Zheng, a senior analyst at Pitchbook, said the consolidation allows Musk to streamline costs and share resources across his companies. “With its large-scale ambitions, SpaceX needs a massive cash infusion, which going public can provide,” she said, noting the high costs associated with compute, infrastructure, and energy expansion.
SpaceX’s expansion aligns with Musk’s other ventures. Tesla has invested over $2 billion in xAI, integrating its AI assistant, Grok, into some vehicles, and Musk plans to use xAI technology in Tesla’s shift toward robot-assisted manufacturing. SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI are also expected to collaborate on Musk’s chipmaking project, Terafab, aimed at producing AI chips at scale.
Founded in 2002, SpaceX revolutionised space travel with reusable rockets and secured its first NASA contract in 2006. Today, its core operations focus on rocket launches and Starlink, a satellite-based global internet service. Musk has also outlined more ambitious plans, including deploying AI data centers in space and eventually building a self-sufficient city on Mars—projects that experts say may be challenging to realise.
