SpaceX continues to ride IPO fervor, but there’s more to the company than rocket ships

SpaceX’s stock price climbed to nearly 60% above its IPO valuation, peaking at over $198 per share and giving the company a market cap of $2.6 trillion. The Nasdaq-listed shares (SPCX) later settled around $198, reflecting sustained investor enthusiasm after its record-breaking public offering last week. Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, SpaceX has evolved from a space-focused enterprise into a conglomerate encompassing Starlink’s satellite internet, AI startup xAI (including the Grok chatbot), and the X social media platform. While the company reported $18.7 billion in revenue for 2025—a sharp increase from 2024—it still faced a net loss of nearly $5 billion, with only Starlink operating profitably. The rocket launch division, central to SpaceX’s origins, lost $657 million in 2025, relying heavily on NASA contracts and satellite deployments, including Starlink’s low-Earth orbit network. Success hinges on the Starship rocket, critical for NASA’s Artemis moon program (targeting 2028) and Mars missions, though analysts warn its development could become a bottleneck. xAI, launched in 2023, competes in AI with Grok (version 4.3) and a supercomputer called Colossus, alongside a data center business. SpaceX’s first major post-IPO move was a $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor, aiming to strengthen its AI tooling against rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic. The company estimates a $28.5 trillion market opportunity across space, connectivity, and AI, with AI as a primary focus. Starlink remains the sole profitable division, but SpaceX’s long-term strategy increasingly pivots toward AI and digital infrastructure. The IPO and acquisitions signal Musk’s ambition to diversify revenue beyond spaceflight, leveraging Starlink’s growth and xAI’s AI advancements to sustain valuation.