Elon Musk Set to Get Richer as SpaceX Prepares for 2026 IPO

After years of resisting public markets, SpaceX is finally preparing for a blockbuster IPO, and Elon Musk himself confirmed the reports. The move could raise tens of billions of dollars and target a valuation of $1.5 trillion, potentially making it the largest IPO in history, surpassing even Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion record in absolute proceeds. Discussions with banks suggest a mid-2026 listing, possibly around June or July.

Musk’s decision to go public is about more than revenue. The rise of artificial intelligence has created a convergence of technologies that he is uniquely positioned to exploit. At Tesla and xAI, Musk has advanced AI and robotics, and SpaceX now offers the infrastructure to deploy these technologies at an unprecedented scale in orbit. Modified Starlink satellites are planned as orbital data centers, with future ambitions including satellite factories on the Moon and electromagnetic launch systems for AI satellites. Musk has described this as a step toward a civilization capable of harnessing enormous energy and computational resources.

SpaceX’s long-term mission to settle Mars remains central to Musk’s vision. The IPO is a way to amass the massive resources required for a self-sustaining Martian settlement, estimated at around 1 million tons of supplies, 1,000 ships, and at least 10,000 Starship launches, totaling roughly $1 trillion in launch costs alone. Public funding accelerates this timeline, allowing Musk to pursue the Mars vision within his lifetime.

For investors, SpaceX offers exposure to one of the world’s most ambitious companies, dominating space launches, satellite communications, and now orbital AI infrastructure. Yet challenges remain: running two $1 trillion-plus public companies, Tesla and SpaceX, will test Musk’s capacity, and shareholder expectations may demand short-term returns over long-term exploration goals.

Beyond SpaceX itself, the IPO could reignite the tech IPO market after a three-year lull, with other high-profile companies like OpenAI and Anthropic reportedly considering public offerings next year. SpaceX going public is not just a financial event; it’s Musk’s strategic maneuver to marshal unprecedented capital for AI and space, while keeping humanity’s next frontier, Mars, within reach.