Elon Musk’s SpaceX Could Be Preparing for a Huge IPO. Here’s What to Know.

Wall Street may be headed for a year of blockbuster IPOs in 2026. And a company led by Elon Musk could be leading the way.

Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly hearing pitches this week from investment banks interested in advising on what could be the largest initial public offering in history, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. That news advanced reports that the space exploration company was considering going public from last week, when Bloomberg said SpaceX is targeting a mid-to-late 2026 IPO that would raise $30 billion and value the company at about $1.5 trillion, among the biggest companies in the S&P 500.

If SpaceX hits its IPO targets, it would surpass Saudi Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, as the largest debut in history. Aramco raised about $29 billion when it went public in 2019. (SpaceX is reportedly in the process of buying insider shares at a price that values it at $800 billion, double its valuation from this summer.) The company didn’t respond to Investopedia’s request for comment in time for publication.

SpaceX stock can’t be traded yet, but some market watchers are already betting on a big response from investors when it can. Saudi Aramco debuted with a market capitalization of nearly $1.9 trillion; users of online prediction market Polymarket on Monday put the chance of SpaceX’s market cap finishing its first day of trading above $2 trillion at about 14%.

A listing of that size would make SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, already the world’s richest person, even wealthier. Musk’s SpaceX stake accounts for more than a quarter of his $470 billion fortune, according to Bloomberg, which estimates that he owns about 42% of the company. Holding a stake anywhere close to that size when SpaceX goes public could make Musk the world’s first trillionaire far earlier than some thought possible.

Musk has for years said he has no interest in taking SpaceX public, which he worried would derail his plans to facilitate the colonization of Mars. But he and others have lately discussed the notion that insufficient electricity is restraining the AI boom, and that sending data centers into space, where they can draw on solar energy, could help.

Musk last week called “accurate” a report that SpaceX was considering going public to fund efforts to develop orbital data center technology. SpaceX has reportedly floated the idea of using Starlink satellites to host AI workloads as part of its recent pitch to investors.

SpaceX is one of several massive companies considering a public offering next year. ChatGPT maker OpenAI, valued at $500 billion in October, has reportedly discussed a public offering with bankers. Competitor Anthropic is reportedly preparing for an IPO, according to the Financial Times, which also reported the company was targeting a $300 billion valuation in a funding round. Data software company Databricks, TikTok parent ByteDance and fintech Stripe are also rumored to be exploring IPOs next year. 

Investors have been waiting years for the return of IPOs. Hundreds of companies went public via IPO or SPAC merger in 2021, spurred by post-pandemic liquidity and rock-bottom interest rates. Activity fell off a cliff in 2022 when the Federal Reserve began raising rates to address soaring inflation. The IPO market stayed cold until this year, when activity has finally picked back up, albeit at a more modest pace than during the pandemic bonanza.