- SpaceX’s IPO has raised a record $85.7 billion after underwriters exercised an additional share option, making it the largest public offering in history.
- The company’s valuation surged past $2 trillion as investors backed its ambitions in reusable rockets, satellite internet, and space-based AI infrastructure.
- Fresh capital will fund Starship development, Starlink expansion, orbital data centres, and a $119 billion semiconductor manufacturing project in Texas
SpaceX has completed the largest initial public offering in history, raising $85.7 billion after underwriters exercised their overallotment option, a mechanism known as the greenshoe, which allows underwriters to sell additional shares when demand exceeds supply.
The Elon Musk-led aerospace and AI company had already raised $75 billion in its Nasdaq debut on June 12, pricing 555.6 million shares at $135 each.
The greenshoe brought in an additional $10.7 billion, itself larger than most technology IPOs in history. SpaceX’s shares surged 19% on its first day of trading and continued to climb, pushing the company’s valuation past $2 trillion and placing it among the world’s most valuable listed companies.
From Mars dreams to a $2 trillion company
Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, SpaceX was built with a singular ambition: to dramatically reduce the cost of space transportation and eventually make humanity a multi-planetary species.
At the time, the global space industry was dominated by government agencies and traditional aerospace contractors. Launches were expensive, infrequent, and heavily dependent on public funding. SpaceX challenged that model by developing reusable rocket technology.
Two decades later, it operates across launch services, satellite communications, defence contracts, and artificial intelligence infrastructure. In February 2026, it absorbed Musk’s AI company xAI, folding in the Grok large language model, X (formerly Twitter), and a wholesale AI compute business, creating one of the most unusual conglomerates ever to go public.
Why SpaceX raised so much capital
The fundraising comes at a critical stage. A major focus is Starship, the largest rocket ever built and designed to be fully reusable, which SpaceX plans to use for satellite deployments, lunar missions, and eventually Mars exploration.
The company is also pursuing orbital AI data centres, space-based computing infrastructure that Musk argues could address the enormous energy demands of artificial intelligence by harnessing near-continuous solar power in orbit.
Alongside these efforts, SpaceX is leading Terafab, a $119 billion semiconductor manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, being built as a joint venture with Tesla, xAI, and Intel. The facility is designed to produce two types of chips: an edge-inference processor for Tesla’s vehicles and Optimus robots, and a radiation-hardened variant for SpaceX’s orbital AI satellites.
Competition
SpaceX may dominate the commercial launch market, but competition is intensifying. Rocket Lab recently secured a $275 million funding package and continues to expand its launch, spacecraft, and defence capabilities, positioning itself as a key player in small-satellite deployments and national security missions.
Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has accelerated commercial launches of its New Glenn rocket as it seeks to challenge SpaceX in orbital transportation and government contracts.
The broader space infrastructure market is also attracting significant investor attention, with Relativity Space, Firefly Aerospace, and Stoke Space collectively raising billions to develop reusable launch systems.
What’s next?
SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO is about far more than rockets. Investors are backing a future where space infrastructure underpins internet connectivity, defence systems, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing. Starship remains under development, orbital data centres are largely unproven, and the economics of large-scale space infrastructure remain uncertain.
Yet on the evidence of last week’s debut, investors appear willing to back that vision on a scale never before seen in public markets.
