SpaceX is preparing to list publicly in a transaction that, if priced as proposed, would rank among the largest initial public offerings on record. The company is asking investors to value it near $1.75 trillion, a figure that would place it alongside the most valuable public companies worldwide. That market case rests on a combination of its satellite broadband business, an expanding launch operation powered by reusable rockets, and a newly prominent AI push.
Revenue and profitability snapshot
Last year SpaceX reported revenue of $18.67 billion, a 33% increase year over year. Roughly 60% of that revenue came from its Starlink satellite internet service, which the company says serves about 10.3 million users via a constellation numbering approximately 9,600 satellites. Despite the revenue rise, net income swung sharply into the red after the company combined with the AI firm xAI. The merger contributed to a net loss of $4.94 billion last year, compared with a net profit of $791 million in 2024 when Starlink’s rapid growth and the reusable Falcon 9 launch business were large contributors to earnings.
Launch cadence and fleet capabilities
SpaceX’s flight tempo has accelerated dramatically since the firm’s first orbital launch in 2006. The company now averages more than two launches per week, a frequency that has made it a primary launch partner for both civil and defense customers, including NASA and the Pentagon. That throughput has been enabled by the reusable Falcon 9 vehicle. In addition, SpaceX operates the Falcon Heavy, which effectively pairs three Falcon 9 cores into a single vehicle with a published lift capability of 64 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, and a still-in-development Starship intended to deliver crew and cargo at substantially larger scale.
AI ambitions and xAI’s market position
Management has emphasized artificial intelligence as a major addressable market. In February the company acquired xAI, aligning an on-orbit internet platform and an AI developer under one corporate umbrella. Available adoption data, though, show xAI trailing some established AI rivals. A recent report from finance startup Ramp found that more than 30% of its sampled business customers were paying for services from Anthropic or OpenAI in April, with the Claude Code creator surpassing OpenAI for the first time in that dataset. By contrast, xAI’s adoption in the Ramp sample remained near 5%. Ramp’s analysis covered spending behavior across about 50,000 customers and represents one slice of enterprise AI spending.
Valuation multiples and investor pricing
The public offering price being discussed equates to $135 per share and implies a trailing price-to-sales ratio of roughly 94. That multiple exceeds the trailing price-to-sales ratios of several of the largest technology companies and sits closer to valuations seen among specialist space-sector peers. For example, the multiple cited for Planet Labs was 50.4, while Rocket Lab’s multiple was 115.4 in the same comparative framing. Because SpaceX reported a net loss last year, a conventional price-to-earnings comparison is not available.
Starship and capacity scale
A central component of the bullish investment thesis is Starship, a heavy-lift rocket designed to be reusable and to deliver more than 100 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. That payload capability would exceed the lift capacity of SpaceX’s current vehicles and is positioned as critical not only to growing the launch business but also to enabling ambitions such as placing AI data-center capacity in orbit. For context, the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy have published lift capabilities of about 22.8 metric tons and 63.8 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, respectively.
In May, SpaceX conducted a Starship test flight ahead of the listing, deploying mock satellites and completing a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Company commentary and the flight record noted minor engine issues during the test, but it marked a milestone in the Starship development program prior to the IPO.
Interpretation at a glance
Investors weighing the proposed offering confront a company with expanding revenue driven by a large-scale satellite internet subscriber base and a market-leading launch cadence, yet one that has shifted from a reported profit in 2024 to a substantial net loss in the most recent year after taking on xAI and scaling computing investments. The valuation being sought embeds considerable optimism about future growth from Starlink, Starship and AI-related ventures while the underlying financials reflect elevated spending and a transition in the company’s profit profile.
Note on data coverage: Several comparative measures cited, including third-party adoption figures and valuation multiples for peer space companies, derive from external analyses and company disclosures summarized in the figures above. Ramp’s customer-spend analysis covers approximately 50,000 customers and illustrates adoption patterns rather than comprehensive market share.