SpaceX IPO filing reveals AI bets and Starship ambitions

SpaceX has officially made public its S-1 (regulatory filing for IPO), which was initially submitted confidentially on April 1. The filing, posted on Wednesday, confirms that Elon Musk will remain at the center of the company as CEO, CTO, and chairman of the board. It sets the stage for what is expected to be the largest IPO ever. When the company lists on the Nasdaq exchange, it will target a potential raise expected to be around $75 billion, at an overall valuation of reportedly $1.75 trillion.

The regulatory filing provides a detailed look at the company’s financial performance, which has been dominated by its Starlink satellite internet offering. Key financial details from the filing include:

• Overall performance: SpaceX lost about $4.9 billion in 2025 on revenue of more than $18 billion.
• Starlink: The satellite internet division generated around $11 billion in revenue.
• Cumulative losses: The company has lost more than $37 billion since its inception.
• AI spending: SpaceX directed around $20 billion toward its artificial intelligence division, which houses the Grok chatbot. Despite this heavy capital spending, the division’s revenue grew by about 22%.

The company’s future growth is heavily tied to Starship, its heavy-lift rocket. SpaceX expects Starship to begin payload delivery (cargo to orbit) in the second half of 2026. Developing the program has been capital-intensive, with Starship research and development costing $3 billion in 2025 and $930 million in the first quarter of 2026. Beyond satellite launches, SpaceX plans to use Starship for point-to-point Earth transport to revolutionize global logistics, an idea Musk first proposed in 2017. The company also lists “space tourism” as a future market, referencing a previously planned but canceled mission around the moon with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. Additionally, the company is targeting orbital manufacturing. As stated in the filing, “We aim to establish in-space manufacturing facilities that leverage the unique microgravity conditions of space to produce materials, pharmaceuticals, and advanced components that are difficult or impossible to manufacture on Earth, opening new high-value industrial markets.”

Musk maintains tight control over the company’s governance. He owns 93.6% of SpaceX’s Class B stock (stock with higher voting power), giving him 85.1% of the voting power. This concentration of control will allow the company to bypass certain requirements for independent board directors even after going public. However, the company also faces significant headwinds. The filing details legal fights it faces following the absorption of Musk’s artificial intelligence and social media companies, which are likely to cost it $530 million.

Why it matters

The S-1 filing provides the most detailed public look at SpaceX’s evolution from a rocket company into a diversified technology conglomerate, highlighting the massive scale of its AI and satellite ambitions.