SpaceX has filed confidentially for IPO ahead of AI rivals

The company submitted its draft IPO registration to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. The filing puts it on track for a June listing, which would make SpaceX the first of what could be a trio of mega-IPOs, ahead of OpenAI and Anthropic PBC.

A representative for SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

SpaceX could seek a valuation in the IPO of more than $1.75 trillion, people familiar with the matter have said. The company acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI in a deal that valued the enlarged entity at $1.25 trillion.

In a confidential filing, companies can receive feedback from the regulator and make changes before the information becomes public. Details of the offering including the number of shares to be sold and the price range are expected to be disclosed in a later filing.

A listing for SpaceX would raise as much as $75 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. At that size, it would dwarf the current record holder, Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion debut in 2019.

SpaceX is telling prospective IPO investors to expect briefings from company executives this month, people familiar with the matter have said. The so-called testing-the-waters investor meetings would potentially include more detail that would support its valuation target.

The company has lined up Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley for senior roles on the IPO, people familiar with the matter have said, and has added more banks to the lineup.

SpaceX is also working with international banks, who are looking after taking IPO orders in specific regions, with Citigroup coordinating their roles, people familiar with the matter have said. Barclays Plc is in charge of the UK and Deutsche Bank AG and UBS Group AG are working on European orders, they said.

Royal Bank of Canada is managing share orders from Canada, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is working on Asia orders and Macquarie Group Ltd. is focused on Australia, Bloomberg News has reported.

The company is considering a dual-class share structure in the listing that would potentially give insiders such as Musk extra voting power to dominate decision making. The IPO is expected to have a large retail component, with SpaceX potentially allocating as much as 30% of the offering to small investors, a person familiar with the matter has said.

The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit. The company is focused on building out a base on the moon before pursuing its long-held mission of sending humans to Mars, Musk has said. 

SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of thousands of satellites that serves millions of customers.

The company’s rocket launch program and Starlink satellites generate the majority of revenue, approaching $20 billion in 2026, with xAI likely to generate less than $1 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.