The IPO that SpaceX filed at the end of May is shaping up to be the largest-ever filed, as its oversubscription rate runs nearly four times the planned offering size.
According to sources cited by Reuters, the IPO has drawn more than US$250 billion of investor demand, far surpassing the $75 billion the firm first sought to raise. It is expected to make Elon Musk even wealthier than he already is, with rumours that the financial move could make him the first trillionaire in history.
Forbes estimated on Tuesday that Musk’s current net worth is sitting around $792.8 billion.
Starlink, AI and space-based data centres are expected to be the key growth drivers, although investor demand is still subject to change before the IPO prices. It comes as SpaceX continues to undertake record spending as it seeks to lead in the digital transformation race.
It also comes during a turbulent time across the market, with some speculating that declines could be attributed to selling by SpaceX buyers raising funds for the IPO.
According to SpaceX’s IPO paperwork, the company is relying on the uniqueness of its rocket-launching business, which has made up a significant amount of its profit in the last few years, in addition to the Starlink internet business.
The company is looking to become a leader in the AI compute space by deploying AI data centres in space, suggesting they could handle power-hungry AI workloads more efficiently than on Earth. It expects to deploy AI compute satellites as soon as 2028, according to a filing.
Eager also to confront flailing electricity and computer-capacity growth, SpaceX said one solution could be putting data centres and other infrastructure in space using SpaceX launches.
“By ​dramatically reducing the cost of access to space, we have been able to ​expand our mission to address some of the Earth’s most pressing challenges, including bridging the digital divide by aiming to connect over three billion unconnected people to the ​internet and humanity’s collective knowledge,” the company said, as reported by Reuters.
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