SpaceX IPO Tops US$2 Trillion, Makes Musk First Trillionaire

SpaceX launched the largest initial public offering (IPO) in corporate history on Friday, with shares surging more than 25% on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SPCX. The debut rally pushed the rocket and artificial intelligence company's market capitalization above US$2 trillion, officially making founder Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

SpaceX confirmed on Thursday the sale of 556 million shares at an initial offering price of US$135 per share. Trading opened on Friday at US$150 per share, an 11% premium to the IPO price, before climbing to an intraday high of US$176.52 in early afternoon trading amid record volume.

The market debut featured a joint opening bell ceremony. Musk participated via livestream from SpaceX headquarters in Texas, while SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City.

Before the listing, Musk addressed investors via livestream, stating that SpaceX had achieved positive cash flow around 2015 and that the public offering was intended to finance the company’s next phase of expansion.

"I wanted to take SpaceX public now to raise capital for a significant growth phase," Musk said, adding that future investments would support the deployment of more than 100,000 communications satellites and the construction of artificial intelligence data centers in orbit.

Despite its multi-trillion-dollar valuation, SpaceX’s financial history reflects substantial capital expenditures. According to its IPO prospectus, the company has accumulated US$41.3 billion in net losses since its founding in 2002, including a loss of nearly US$5 billion during fiscal year 2025. While Musk originally established the company as a reusable rocket manufacturer, the prospectus identifies the Starlink satellite internet business as its only profitable operating division.

The company’s scope expanded significantly in February 2026, when SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI. The transaction integrated xAI’s physical data centers, Grok large language models, the Grok AI chatbot and image generator, and the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, into SpaceX’s corporate structure.

Market analysts are assessing the broader implications of the offering for the technology and AI sectors. Dan Ives, global head of technology research, Wedbush Securities, described the listing as a pivotal moment. “Overall, SpaceX going public is an important moment for the broader tech sector in our view as this AI revolution and data take the next step forward,” Ives said.

Evan Schlossman, principal, SuRo Capital, said the market’s response demonstrates continued investor appetite for high-growth technology companies. “I think that a successful SpaceX IPO is generally a positive signal for broader investor interest in innovation and technology,” Schlossman said. “It reflects the demand, interest, and desire to invest in these types of companies.”

Forecasts from Capital Economics suggested that the scale of the offering could encourage additional listings. “If these mega IPOs are well received, many more companies are likely to ride the wave of investor enthusiasm by going public,” the firm said.

However, financial advisers cautioned against comparing SpaceX directly with pure-play artificial intelligence companies. Nigel Green, CEO, deVere Group, argued that each company represents a different investment thesis.

“OpenAI is a bet on turning extraordinary consumer adoption into profits. Anthropic is a bet on enterprise AI becoming embedded across business,” Green said. “SpaceX is a bet on Elon Musk continuing to achieve what critics say cannot be done.”

As shares stabilized near US$168 by midday, the company’s market capitalization reached approximately US$2.2 trillion. Because SpaceX reported a net loss in 2025, institutional investors are valuing the company primarily through its price-to-sales ratio. Based on annual revenue of US$18.7 billion, SpaceX trades at roughly 118 times trailing sales.

That valuation far exceeds typical market benchmarks. Most publicly traded US companies have price-to-sales ratios in the single digits. The multiple also surpasses those of leading megacap technology firms: Nvidia trades at approximately 23 times trailing revenue, while Microsoft and Apple trade at roughly 10 times annual sales.