SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that his aerospace company is going public. SpaceX, which is the world’s most accomplished and valuable spaceflight firm, reportedly aims to raise a record initial public offering (IPO) of more than $30 billion.
According to Bloomberg, SpaceX is targeting a valuation of $1.5 trillion and its $30 billion IPO will exceed oil company Saudi Aramco’s record $29 billion raised in 2019.
As usual, Eric is accurate
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2025
Musk confirmed his plans to take SpaceX public on X today in a reply to Ars Technica reporter Eric Berger, who explained why the billionaire is finally going for it after resisting it for years. The listing is expected as soon as mid-to-late 2026, Bloomberg reported.
Elon Musk’s plans for SpaceX
SpaceX’s biggest chunk of revenue comes from Starlink, the satellite network which is providing high-speed internet in over 150 countries. The other sources of earning are uncrewed and crewed launches for NASA and private satellite missions.
The pivot comes as Musk is building a new project which calls for a convergence of his three companies – Tesla, xAI and SpaceX. He has put forth the idea of setting up AI-powered satellites to build data centers in space in the next 3-4 years that would eliminate the need for setting up data centers on Earth because they require vast swaths of land, huge amounts of electricity, cooling systems and maintenance costs.
A major additional factor should be considered.
Satellites with localized AI compute, where just the results are beamed back from low-latency, sun-synchronous orbit, will be the lowest cost way to generate AI bitstreams in <3 years.
And by far the fastest way to scale within 4…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2025
In a recent post on X, Musk said low-latency, sun-synchronous orbit satellites will be the lowest cost way to make AI smarter in about three years. The capital raised from the IPO could also boost Starship development that will enable launch of 1 megaton satellites per year with a capacity of 100kW per satellite.
SpaceX’s annual revenue is projected to be around $22-24 billion in 2026, exceeding that of NASA’s annual budget. The additional $30 billion cash infusion will enable the company to ramp up its preparations.
Will it affect Elon Musk’s Mars plan?
SpaceX has the ultimate goal of establishing sustainable colonies on Mars and going public has some drawbacks. The major ones are investors pursuing short-term profits and public scrutiny from regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has troubled Musk in the past with Tesla. The initial investment may not give immediate returns if stock prices tank, which may draw pressure from investors.
While listing the company on Wall Street may not cause operational meddling, considering Musk will retain significant control, SpaceX will be forced to be more transparent on failures.
Owing to frustration with public market pressures, Musk wanted to take Tesla private again in 2018 but abandoned the plan later, according to CNN.
That being said, Musk has not abandoned his plan to occupy Mars since he established SpaceX in 2002 and is not going to. Tesla is expected to play a huge part in this mission as he is planning to send the Optimus robots to Mars on Starship’s first Mars missions. Besides, making Starship fully reusable is another monumental goal that SpaceX needs to achieve. This mega-rocket is something NASA has also placed its bets on. NASA has awarded SpaceX $4 billion in funding over the last few years to develop Starships that will land astronauts on the Moon under the Artemis Program.
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