Three months ago, SpaceX was a rocket company preparing for another Starship test. Today, it is filing paperwork that could produce the largest initial public offering in the history of capital markets — and the pitch it’s making to investors is as much about artificial intelligence as it is about getting to orbit.
On April 1, 2026, SpaceX submitted a confidential S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company is targeting a valuation of $1.75 trillion at listing, with internal testing-the-waters conversations already pushing that figure above $2 trillion. To put that in context: Saudi Aramco’s 2019 IPO — long the record holder — raised $25.6 billion at a $1.7 trillion valuation. SpaceX plans to raise up to $75 billion.
The xAI Merger Changes Everything
The filing comes just ten weeks after SpaceX completed its acquisition of xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, in an all-stock transaction worth $250 billion — the largest corporate merger in history. The combined entity is valued at $1.25 trillion, spanning rockets, Starlink satellite internet, the Grok AI model, and the X social media platform.
Musk framed the rationale bluntly at the time: “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on and off Earth.” The strategic logic centers on orbital data centers — using Starlink’s low-Earth orbit constellation as compute infrastructure to train and serve AI models at planetary scale, a capability no rival currently possesses.
The xAI integration has not been seamless. Several xAI co-founders departed following the merger, prompting Musk to announce a structural reorganization in February. The AI layer the merged company is pitching to IPO investors is, according to reporting by FinTech Weekly, being rebuilt from scratch under new leadership.
The Numbers Behind the Narrative
SpaceX’s core businesses give the valuation some foundation. Starlink has grown to over 7 million subscribers globally, generating recurring subscription revenue at scale. The launch business remains the dominant force in commercial orbital access, with Falcon 9 holding an estimated 60% share of global launch market revenue.
The post-merger entity has not yet disclosed public financials. The S-1’s public registration statement — required at least 15 days before an investor roadshow — is expected to be filed in April or May, at which point the xAI merger accounting and full revenue picture will become visible for the first time.
Analysts at Motley Fool have flagged valuation risk, noting the jump from $1.25 trillion at the time of the xAI close to a $2 trillion IPO target occurred in just six weeks — a 60% markup that markets will need to absorb.
Why This Matters Now
For the technology and AI sector broadly, a successful SpaceX IPO would validate the thesis that AI infrastructure — not just software — commands frontier valuations. It would also provide public market liquidity to the xAI investment, which counts sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors among its backers.
If the listing proceeds at $2 trillion, SpaceX would immediately rank among the five most valuable public companies on Earth. Whether Starlink’s recurring revenues and Grok’s enterprise traction can justify that multiple is a question Wall Street will be parsing intensely in the weeks ahead.
The roadshow is expected to begin in May or June. Whatever the outcome, the IPO marks a turning point: the moment the space economy and the AI economy officially merged into a single capital markets event.
Sources: CNBC — SpaceX confidentially files for IPO · CNBC — Musk’s xAI SpaceX combo biggest merger · Motley Fool — SpaceX absorbed xAI analysis
