Elon Musk, founder, CEO and lead designer at SpaceX and co-founder of Tesla, speaks at the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition II in Hawthorne, California, US on Augu27, 2017. (File photo: Reuters/Mike Blake)

Musk eyes Wall Street record with SpaceX IPO

20 May 2026, 23:11 · CNA · Join

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NEW YORK: Elon Musk's SpaceX rocketed toward Wall Street on Wednesday (May 20), filing plans for what could become the largest initial public offering in history as the company reportedly seeks to raise up to US$75 billion on the public markets.

If successful, the listing of the rocket and satellite giant would dwarf any IPO in history and cement Musk's status as one of the most consequential entrepreneurs of his generation.

US media reports say SpaceX is hoping to raise US$75 billion and win a valuation of as much as US$1.75 trillion when it begins trading as early as next month.

The filing of the S-1 prospectus - a document companies are required to present to the SEC before listing on a public stock exchange, providing potential investors with detailed financial information, possible risks and business strategy - marked the first time SpaceX has publicly disclosed detailed financials in its 24-year history.

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It revealed that the company generated US$18.7 billion in revenue in 2025 and posted an operating loss of US$2.6 billion as it poured money into next-generation rocket development and artificial intelligence.

SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet business is the clear financial engine of the company, generating US$11.4 billion in revenue in 2025, up nearly 50 per cent year-on-year.

The AI segment, which includes xAI and the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), recorded US$3.2 billion in revenue for the full year 2025 but posted an operating loss of US$6.4 billion as the company raced to build out AI training data centers.

Capital expenditure for the segment alone reached US$12.7 billion in 2025 and US$7.7 billion in just the first quarter of 2026 - reflecting the enormous sums necessary to keep pace in the AI race against deep-pocketed rivals including Google, Meta and Amazon.

SpaceX also disclosed it had struck a deal to rent out spare capacity at its COLOSSUS and COLOSSUS II data centres to rival AI firm Anthropic for US$1.25 billion per month through May 2029.

The filing comes just days after Musk suffered a significant legal setback in his bitter feud with OpenAI, a direct competitor also racing toward a public listing.

With Anthropic eyeing its own IPO as well, 2026 could prove one of the most momentous years on Wall Street in recent memory.

The 10 largest IPOs on record

Here is the ranking of the 10 largest IPOs on record, in terms of funds raised, figures that SpaceX likely will exceed by a massive margin.

Saudi Aramco - the Saudi oil giant raised US$25.6 billion on the Riyadh stock exchange in December 2019.

Alibaba - at US$21.8 billion, the Chinese e-commerce giant made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014.

SoftBank Corp - US$21.3 billion on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December 2018.

AgBank - US$19.2 billion. Chinese lender Agricultural Bank of China listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges in July 2010.

ICBC - US$19.1 billion. Another Chinese bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, also opted for Hong Kong and Shanghai in October 2006.

NTT Mobile - US$18.1 billion. The Japanese mobile operator was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange back in October 1998.

Visa Inc - US$17.9 billion. The American credit card network made its New York Stock Exchange debut in March 2008.

AIA Group - US$17.8 billion. This Asian subsidiary of American insurer AIG arrived on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in October 2010.

Enel - US$16.5 billion. The Italian energy giant, whose shares trade in Milan and New York, made its stock market debut in November 1999.

Facebook (now Meta) - US$16 billion in New York in May 2012.

MUSK IN CONTROL

The filing confirmed a dual-class share structure that will leave Musk firmly in control of the company after the listing, sidestepping the kind of governance fights that have dogged him at Tesla, where shareholders have repeatedly taken aim at his compensation and the board's independence.

Musk, by far the world's richest person, is set to control approximately 79 per cent of voting power while holding around 42 per cent of equity.

SpaceX acknowledged the arrangement poses risks for outside investors, noting that Musk "will have the power to control the outcome of matters requiring shareholder approval, including election of all our directors".

The filing also laid out an ambitious roadmap to build data centres in space, arguing that solar energy captured in orbit represents "the only truly scalable solution" to the soaring power demands of AI computing.

SpaceX said it plans to begin deploying AI computer satellites as early as 2028, with the long-term goal of putting 100 gigawatts of compute capacity in orbit annually - a task requiring thousands of rocket launches per year and the transport of roughly one million metric tons of payload to orbit.

The company said it was uniquely positioned to meet that challenge, calling it "incredibly difficult" and one no other company could tackle at commercial scale.

In a staggering figure, SpaceX claimed a total addressable market - a company's estimate of the maximum revenue opportunity available for its products and services - of US$28.5 trillion across its businesses, excluding China and Russia.

Reports indicate SpaceX is targeting a June listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol SPCX, with trading expected to commence shortly thereafter.

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