Elon Musk’s SpaceX files to go public, shooting for record stock offering: Sources

NEW YORK - Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering (IPO), according to sources on April 1, setting the stage for what could be the largest stock market listing on record.

A listing for SpaceX would raise as much as US$75 billion (S$96 billion), Bloomberg News has reported. At that size, it would dwarf the current record holder, Saudi Aramco’s US$29 billion debut in 2019.

The company submitted its draft IPO registration to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. The filing puts it on track for a June listing, which would make SpaceX the first of what could be a trio of mega-IPOs, ahead of AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic.

SpaceX could seek a valuation in the IPO of more than US$1.75 trillion, people familiar with the matter have said. The company acquired Mr Musk’s artificial intelligence start-up xAI in a deal that valued the enlarged entity at US$1.25 trillion.

In a confidential filing, companies can receive feedback from the regulator and make changes before the information becomes public. Details of the offering, including the number of shares to be sold and the price range, are expected to be disclosed in a later filing.

The company is considering a dual-class share structure in the listing that would potentially give insiders such as Mr Musk extra voting power to dominate decision making. The IPO is expected to have a large retail component, with SpaceX potentially allocating as much as 30 per cent of the offering to small investors, a person familiar with the matter has said.

The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit. The company is focused on building a base on the Moon before pursuing its long-held mission of sending humans to Mars, Mr Musk has said. 

SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of thousands of satellites that serves millions of customers.

The company’s rocket launch programme and Starlink satellites generate the majority of revenue, approaching US$20 billion in 2026, with xAI likely to generate less than US$1 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

SpaceX generated about US$8 billion in profit on US$15 billion to US$16 billion of revenue in 2025, Reuters reported in January, citing people familiar with the matter.

Space race

The move comes as NASA launched its first crewed mission to the Moon in half a century.

A growing number of billionaires and private firms have bankrolled a fresh space race in the United States, investing heavily in rockets, satellite networks and lunar ambitions, including SpaceX and Mr Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

Space stocks jumped on the news on April 1, with Intuitive Machines last up 11 per cent, while Planet Labs, AST SpaceMobile and Rocket Lab added between 6 per cent and 10 per cent.

As NASA leans more on commercial partners and defence budgets climb, space is emerging as a strategic battleground shaped by technological edge, national security priorities and the promise of new economic gains.

SpaceX has also sought permission to launch up to one million solar-powered satellites engineered as orbital data centres, far beyond anything currently deployed or proposed.

NASA engineers and technologists have speculated for nearly two decades about moving energy-hungry computing off the planet.

SpaceX’s merger with xAI has drawn investor attention to how Mr Musk could use a tightly integrated network of rockets, satellites and AI systems to overcome technical and capital hurdles, extending AI infrastructure beyond Earth.

AI has become Wall Street’s favourite theme, with anything tied to AI helping fuel a powerful rally in technology stocks and lifting valuations across the sector. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS