SpaceX IPO propels Musk to trillionaire status amid AI battle

The recently filed SpaceX IPO has officially made its founder, Elon Musk, the world’s first trillionaire.

SpaceX, the satellite and AI company also responsible for rocket launches, raised a record US$75 billion in its IPO on Thursday and further highlighted investor interest in Elon Musk’s business ventures. In addition to SpaceX, Musk also heads up EV company Tesla and AI-led business, xAI, which is now owned by SpaceX.

Before the share sale, Forbes estimated that Musk’s net worth was around $780 billion, a figure that is only continuing to increase. His wealth sits predominantly with SpaceX, where he has a stake of roughly $866 billion, Reuters reported.

Now, combined with Tesla, his net worth will exceed $1.1 trillion, according to Reuters calculations.

From Tesla to trillions

SpaceX is now one of the most valuable companies in the world and is currently valued at $1.77 trillion. According to Reuters, this could rise further if underwriters exercise their right to sell additional shares.

First founded in 2002, the company defines its mission as building the systems and technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary. It said its market opportunity now spans $28.5 trillion and said it was perhaps the largest in human history.

Starlink currently accounts for most of SpaceX’s revenue, but most of its addressable market comes from xAI. The company said its access to real-time data on X creates a strategic advantage.

The IPO is also a significant moment for the wider digital economy, with the CEO of space investment firm, Seraphim Space, Mark Boggett, explaining that it will further establish space as a mainstream investment category.

“[It will] provide public market investors with a highly visible benchmark for the sector’s potential,” he said. “We would expect a listing to increase interest from a broader range of investors, including generalist venture capital firms that may previously have had limited exposure to the sector.”

He added: “Historically, category-defining companies have drawn new investors into adjacent parts of their ecosystems as they seek exposure to the next generation of growth opportunities.”

What’s next for Elon Musk?

Looking ahead, SpaceX shows no signs of wanting to slow its movements. Last week, it entered into a multiyear cloud services agreement with Google to confirm computing capacity as the AI race keeps heating up.

It also recently inked a deal with Anthropic, where the Claude-maker will use all the compute capacity at SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data centre.

Despite his successes, Musk has attracted plenty of critics during his business ventures, particularly concerning his lawsuit with OpenAI. During legal proceedings, he himself admitted that xAI had partly used OpenAI’s technology to train its own models, describing the practice as standard in the industry.

He also changed the share structure of SpaceX, whereby he currently owns about 42% of the company, but holds around 85% of voting rights – leading to accusations of him wielding too much power.

In Boggett’s view, SpaceX could open more opportunities across the market, given that the space economy is now encompassing more critical infrastructure like security applications, navigation, energy and climate intelligence.

“While launch and connectivity currently capture much of the public attention, a significant proportion of future value creation is likely to occur in the applications, intelligence, and infrastructure layers,” he said. “A SpaceX IPO would shine a spotlight on this wider ecosystem and help accelerate capital flows towards the next generation of category-leading SpaceTech companies.”

The IPO also come after a very volatile market, which is now set to rebound. SpaceX is expected to sit at the helm, alongside OpenAI and Anthropic. Time will tell if the company remains successful, with Musk’s net worth swelling with it.

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