The biggest IPO in history is coming! Elon Musk's SpaceX has reportedly filed for a public listing.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX, according to reports, has secretly filed its initial public offering (IPO) application documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), taking an important step toward what could become the largest IPO in history.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the satellite manufacturing and rocket launch company has submitted its listing application in a confidential manner. Earlier reports said SpaceX plans to raise about $40 billion to $80 billion through an IPO, and the company’s target valuation could be as high as $1.75 trillion.

This filing could allow the company to complete its listing as early as July this year, a timeline consistent with the goal Musk previously told people inside the company.

SpaceX may become the first case among the three biggest super IPOs in 2026: the artificial intelligence companies OpenAI and Anthropic are also preparing to go public this year. At the same time, many smaller tech companies have postponed their IPO plans because investors worry that AI will reshape the software industry landscape.

Because SpaceX chose the currently popular secret submission process, most investors have to wait until shortly before the listing to see the company’s financial data. This process allows regulators and companies to hold multiple rounds of communication and revisions regarding disclosure content before any formal release.

Sources say SpaceX has selected five institutions—Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley—as lead underwriters. Several other investment banks will participate as co-underwriters. If the deal proceeds smoothly, these institutions are expected to earn tens of millions of dollars in underwriting fees.

In February this year, SpaceX and Elon Musk’s AI company xAI completed a merger, creating a mega-entity with a valuation of $1.25 trillion—one of the largest corporate integrations in U.S. history by deal size. By strengthening the synergy between the two companies, Musk provided xAI with stronger capital backing to take on larger competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

For years, SpaceX’s sales, costs, profits, and balance sheet information has been highly confidential, disclosed only in limited form to investors closely connected to the company’s management. Currently, its space business has achieved revenue growth and is capable of generating profits, but its AI business xAI is still in an early stage and urgently needs substantial capital investment.

Once the prospectus is made public, the market is expected to get its first comprehensive look at the operations of the post-merger company, whose business scope includes satellite manufacturing plants, rocket launch sites, and large xAI data center facilities in Memphis.

The document may also disclose more customer information. SpaceX has built a sizable consumer business through Starlink, and it also provides services to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and national security agencies.

For many years, SpaceX executives have claimed that the company would not go public before achieving regular rocket flights to Mars. But that strategy changed last year, and it began pushing to list its shares.

This stems from a gamble by Musk: he believes the next frontier for AI-dominated leadership is building data centers in space. It is a capital-intensive project, and a mega IPO could help fund the plan.

Once SpaceX eventually lists, Musk will become the first entrepreneur to lead two publicly traded companies with market values in the trillions at the same time. Estimates put Musk’s net worth at close to $84 billion, keeping him firmly atop the list of the world’s richest people.

Reena Aggarwal, a finance professor at Georgetown University, pointed out that even with Musk and SpaceX’s halo, the company still needs a receptive public market to cooperate. Driven down by the war between the U.S. and Iran and a surge in oil prices, the stock market has seen intense volatility recently.

“Even if the company has outstanding fundamentals and huge investor demand, if the market turns pessimistic or volatility becomes excessive, the IPO could still fail to launch. I hope the current geopolitical situation cools off before June so that uncertainty can ease.” However, she expects retail investors to show strong interest.

(Source: Caixin Finance)