SpaceX set a $135 IPO price and locked in a $1.77 trillion valuation, pushing the company into record territory and reviving talk that Elon Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire; this article walks through the revenue drivers, the massive Starlink business, the huge capital spending, the Anthropic contract, governance details, and the debates over whether the valuation is realistic.
SpaceX finalized its IPO price at $135 per share and plans to sell more than 555 million shares, raising roughly $75 billion and creating the largest IPO in history. The company reported $18.7 billion in revenue for 2025, a 33 percent increase from the prior year, with Starlink providing the bulk of that growth. Starlink served more than 10 million subscribers and generated about $11 billion in revenue, delivering more than $4 billion in operating income on its own. Those figures are the backbone of the valuation investors are pricing in.
At the same time, SpaceX spent aggressively across the business, recording approximately $20.7 billion in capital expenditures in 2025 to build launch infrastructure, satellites, and AI computing capacity. After returning to profitability in 2024, the company posted a $4.9 billion loss in 2025 as it poured resources into long-term projects. That level of spending puts SpaceX in capital intensity territory similar to major tech firms, signaling a bet on scale and future market capture rather than short-term margin maximization. Investors are evidently willing to fund that buildout at the IPO stage.
Not everyone is comfortable with the numbers. Veteran short seller Jim Chanos argues SpaceX is dramatically overvalued, and some regulators and lawmakers have signaled heightened scrutiny of the company’s public disclosures. Skeptics point to the 2025 loss, Musk’s attention split across multiple ventures, and valuation multiples that leave little room for error if growth slows. Those critiques remind the market that sky-high valuations depend on execution and steady revenue growth across multiple fronts.
Investors buying into the IPO are making a different bet: dominance in several strategic markets. SpaceX controls much of the commercial launch market and operates the world’s largest satellite internet network. It also holds significant NASA and Department of Defense contracts and is now a supplier of infrastructure for artificial intelligence workloads. That combination of launch, connectivity, government business, and AI infrastructure is what underpins the bullish investor thesis.
One disclosure that captured widespread attention is the Anthropic computing contract, which commits the AI company to pay SpaceX roughly $1.25 billion per month for computing capacity through 2029. That commitment amounts to roughly $15 billion a year and stands out because it represents revenue from a competitor in the AI space rather than a traditional customer relationship. The deal highlights how SpaceX’s investments in AI compute are already being monetized and how satellite and compute infrastructure can intersect in surprising ways.
Control and governance are central to the story as well. Through a dual-class share structure, Musk retains roughly 85 percent of the voting power even after the IPO, ensuring he remains the decisive authority on corporate strategy. That arrangement gives investors exposure to SpaceX’s commercial upside while leaving operational control concentrated at the top. For many backers, control equals continuity; for critics, it raises questions about accountability and checks on executive decision making.
At $135 a share, the SpaceX stake controlled by Mr. Musk would be worth more than $860 billion.
And a slight increase in the company’s share price in its first days of trading could turn Mr. Musk, 54, into the world’s first trillionaire.
The timeline is striking: SpaceX was founded in 2002 and did not exist 25 years ago, yet it is now debuting as one of the most valuable companies on the planet. The combination of Starlink’s subscriber growth, lucrative government contracts, leadership in reusable rocketry, and newly commercialized AI compute capacity propelled that rapid ascent. The IPO crystallizes those elements into a public price tag and raises the stakes for execution over the coming years.
Market reaction in the first days of trading will matter more than ever because even a modest uptick in share price could push Musk past the trillion-dollar mark in personal net worth, given his retained stake and voting control. That possible milestone has fueled media and investor fascination, but the underlying business realities—capital intensity, execution risk, and evolving competitive dynamics—will determine whether the valuation holds. For now, the IPO has locked in a headline-grabbing figure and set a high bar for future performance.
Whether the valuation proves prescient or optimistic, SpaceX’s public debut rearranges the landscape by turning private expectations into a market test. The company’s revenue mix, large contracting deals, and continued investment create a clear growth story, while governance and profitability questions supply the cautionary counterpoint. Investors, regulators, and competitors will now watch closely as trading begins and the market decides how to price SpaceX’s future.
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