Key facts
- SpaceX has confidentially filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- The company is targeting a public listing as early as June 2026, with a potential valuation of $1.75 trillion.
- The IPO follows SpaceX's absorption of Elon Musk's AI venture, xAI.
- SpaceX plans to raise between $75 billion and $100 billion.
- Retail investors may receive an allocation of up to 30% of the shares offered.
SpaceX has confidentially submitted its S-1 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 1, 2026, signaling its intention to go public. The offering, internally codenamed "Project Apex," aims for a listing as early as June 2026, potentially making it the largest initial public offering in history.
The company is reportedly seeking to raise between $75 billion and $100 billion, with a valuation that could reach $1.75 trillion. This valuation would place SpaceX among the world's most valuable public companies, alongside tech giants like Apple and Microsoft. The move comes shortly after SpaceX absorbed Elon Musk's artificial intelligence venture, xAI, a merger valued at $250 billion, which significantly reshapes the IPO's financial considerations.
Professor Aswath Damodaran of NYU Stern School of Business noted that the IPO represents a "recalibration of how the public markets value infrastructure companies," suggesting investors will need to price in not only Starlink's current revenue but also the future potential of orbital connectivity, space colonization, and AI.
Key to the offering is a substantial retail investor allocation, potentially up to 30% of available shares, a move designed to broaden investor appeal. The full S-1 prospectus, which will provide detailed financial statements, is expected to be made public in late April or early May 2026, at least 15 days before the investor roadshow begins.
However, the IPO faces significant regulatory and geopolitical risks. SpaceX's strategic importance to U.S. national security, coupled with ITAR and export-control restrictions, limits access to certain capital markets. GPU export rules impact xAI's compute business, and China views Starlink as a military threat. The company's business model is heavily reliant on defense contracts from the Pentagon, NRO, and Starshield, making it a critical U.S. defense asset but also a potential single point of failure. Spectrum disputes with the FCC and ITU, environmental litigation, orbital debris liability, AI regulation for Grok/xAI, and governance conflicts related to Musk also present structural risks.