SpaceX completed the largest initial public offering in history on Friday, raising $75 billion and debuting on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX at $135 per share. The record-breaking IPO values the rocket company at $1.77 trillion, making it the seventh most-valuable U.S. company, ahead of Tesla and Meta. The company sold 555.6 million shares in the offering, with Elon Musk and SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell ringing the opening bell.

For Shotwell, the timing felt right after years of hesitation about going public. "I wasn't sure we would go public," she told CNBC in an exclusive interview before the IPO roadshow. "It actually feels like the right time now." Speaking from SpaceX's Starbase headquarters in Texas, Shotwell explained that the company had previously remained private to focus on long-term goals rather than quarterly financial pressures. "Today, across SpaceX's various businesses, the building blocks of a publicly traded company are now in place," she said.

Shotwell, the timing felt right after years of hesitation about going public

Why Did SpaceX Decide to Go Public Now?

Musk explained on a JPMorgan Chase livestream that SpaceX had been cash-flow positive since around 2015 and wanted to raise capital for "a significant growth phase." The company plans to deploy over 100,000 satellites for communications and build artificial intelligence data centers in space, among other ambitious initiatives. Shotwell acknowledged that the company had felt pressure from everyday Americans and friends who wanted to invest but had no way to buy stock.

Musk

Eight years ago, Shotwell said an IPO probably wouldn't happen until SpaceX was conducting regular missions to Mars. The shift in timeline reflects how much the company's business has matured, particularly with the profitability of its Starlink satellite internet division, which now serves more than 10 million subscribers across roughly 9,600 satellites in orbit.

What Are SpaceX's Core Business Segments and Growth Plans?

SpaceX operates across multiple revenue-generating divisions, each playing a critical role in funding the company's ambitious future projects. Shotwell outlined the company's strategy to become a vertically integrated technology infrastructure provider, controlling everything from chips to AI applications.

• Rocket Launch Services: SpaceX's Falcon fleet dominates the global launch market, accounting for roughly 80% of all mass launched to orbit since 2023. The company conducted 165 orbital missions last year, with 157 of those using reused rocket boosters, drastically reducing launch costs by more than 90% compared to the Space Shuttle era.
• Starlink Connectivity: The satellite internet division is SpaceX's primary profit engine, generating high margins and cash flow that funds investments in other business segments. Starlink also includes the nascent Starlink Mobile direct-to-cell service and Starshield, a military-focused offering that experts say is reshaping modern warfighting.
• AI Infrastructure and Data Centers: SpaceX acquired Musk's xAI startup in February 2026, bringing the Grok large language model, the X social network (formerly Twitter), and significant data center operations. The company spent $12.7 billion on AI capital expenditures in 2025 and $7.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
• Semiconductor Manufacturing: SpaceX is jointly developing Terafab, a semiconductor fabrication facility with Tesla, with Intel recently signing on as a partner and supplier. The project is expected to ultimately cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
• Space-Based Computing: The company operates Colossus data centers near Memphis, Tennessee, and has struck multibillion-dollar deals with Anthropic and Google to provide spare computing capacity, helping offset hefty capital spending.

Shotwell emphasized that SpaceX's most ambitious goal involves deploying AI compute satellites into orbit within the next two to three years, a move that could solve earthbound challenges like power scarcity, land preservation, and community opposition to data center construction. "The AI satellites are, to some extent, simpler than the next-gen V3 Starlink satellites," she noted, adding that demonstrations could reach orbit before the end of 2027.

Shotwell

How to Understand SpaceX's Valuation and Financial Position

• Valuation Metrics: At $1.77 trillion, SpaceX trades at an estimated 2026 revenue multiple of 40 and an adjusted earnings multiple of 175, metrics that have drawn skepticism from Wall Street analysts questioning whether the company can justify such a premium valuation.
• Accumulated Deficit: Despite its market dominance in rocketry, SpaceX has accumulated a total deficit of $41.3 billion since its founding in 2002, reflecting decades of heavy investment in research and development before achieving profitability.
• IPO Proceeds and Investor Appetite: Banks earned $500 million in fees on the IPO, while SpaceX-linked perpetual futures on Hyperliquid traded near $172 per share during the day, representing a 27% premium over the $135 IPO price, suggesting strong investor demand despite the company's massive valuation.

Shotwell stressed that investors should understand SpaceX's long-term horizon. "I do not want to focus on quarterly earnings," she said. "I'm not saying we're not going to do right by our investors, but what folks who invest in SpaceX need to know is that what we're doing is very futuristic".

Shotwell

What Challenges Does SpaceX Face as a Public Company?

The company's prospectus reveals significant challenges ahead. Supply chain constraints pose a major hurdle, particularly in securing enough solar arrays and semiconductor chips to support both space-based AI infrastructure and terrestrial data center operations. Shotwell acknowledged these manufacturing bottlenecks but expressed confidence in the company's ability to overcome them.

Additionally, SpaceX's valuation assumes aggressive timelines for deploying space-based AI infrastructure and achieving profitability across its newer business segments. Other space entrepreneurs, including Jeff Bezos and Planet Labs founder Will Marshall, have suggested that orbital computing infrastructure will take longer to develop than Musk's two to three-year timeline, citing technological challenges and manufacturing hurdles.

The IPO also triggered volatility in competing space stocks. Rocket Lab traded more than 5% lower, Redwire shed 7%, and Virgin Galactic dropped 24% as traders braced for SpaceX's market debut, suggesting investor concerns about how the company's dominance might affect smaller competitors.

"Elon jokes that we make the impossible, we just make it late. Look at our track record, look at our history. We do really difficult things. We do bring them to product level," said Shotwell, emphasizing SpaceX's proven ability to commercialize advanced technology that competitors have deemed unviable.

Gwynne Shotwell, Chief Operating Officer at SpaceX

As SpaceX transitions from a private company focused on long-term moonshots to a publicly traded corporation, Shotwell's message to investors is clear: patience and faith in the company's technical execution are essential. The company's track record of reducing launch costs by 90%, building a profitable satellite internet business, and integrating cutting-edge AI infrastructure suggests SpaceX has the operational discipline to deliver on its ambitious promises, even if the timeline extends beyond initial projections.