Inside SpaceX's IPO filing: Musk's AI plans, deep Tesla ties, and mounting losses

SpaceX finally unveiled its long-awaited initial public offering filing on Wednesday, setting off intense scrutiny across Wall Street as investors rushed to assess the finances, ambitions and risks tied to Elon Musk’s sprawling space and artificial-intelligence empire.

The company, formally registered as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., disclosed in its S-1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to list its Class A common stock on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the ticker symbol SPCX.

The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, alongside a syndicate of more than 20 underwriters.

The filing immediately became one of the most dissected corporate documents in years, revealing not only the financial profile of the world’s most valuable private company but also the extent to which Musk’s businesses have become deeply intertwined across artificial intelligence, transportation, communications and infrastructure.

The IPO is widely expected to become one of the largest public offerings ever attempted, with reports suggesting SpaceX could seek a valuation approaching $1.8 trillion (approx. ₦2,424.8 trillion).

Musk cements control through voting structure

One of the clearest takeaways from the filing was that going public will do little to dilute Musk’s authority over SpaceX.

The company adopted a dual-class share structure under which publicly traded Class A shares will carry one vote each, while Class B shares largely controlled by Musk will carry 10 votes per share.

The filing also disclosed that Class B shareholders will retain the right to elect a majority of the board regardless of overall shareholder voting results.

SpaceX explicitly stated that it intends to qualify as a “controlled company” under Nasdaq rules, allowing it exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that apply to other listed firms.

The structure ensures Musk retains decisive influence over the company’s strategic direction even after public investors enter the shareholder base.

That governance model has become increasingly common among founder-led technology companies, though critics argue it leaves minority shareholders with limited ability to challenge management decisions.

A mission statement built around humanity’s future

The filing also underscored the extraordinary scale of SpaceX’s ambitions.

In its prospectus, the company described its mission as seeking “to build the systems and technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary, to understand the true nature of the universe, and to extend the light of consciousness to the stars.”

SpaceX also claimed it had identified “the largest actionable total addressable market in human history,” putting the figure at $28.5 trillion (approx. ₦39,490.3 trillion).

Much of that market opportunity depends on technologies and industries that do not yet fully exist, including commercial Mars infrastructure, orbital data centers and space-based AI computing networks powered by solar energy.

The document repeatedly emphasized the strategic importance of orbital infrastructure, with the word “orbital” appearing 163 times throughout the filing.

Filing reveals sprawling Musk company network

The IPO filing offered unprecedented insight into how closely linked Musk’s companies have become financially and operationally.

The disclosures showed extensive commercial arrangements tying together SpaceX, Tesla, xAI and X.

While the businesses have long collaborated informally, the filing detailed a growing web of cross-company investments, purchasing agreements, infrastructure partnerships and financing relationships.

Tesla invested in xAI before the AI company merged with SpaceX earlier this year, leaving Tesla with ownership of nearly 19 million shares of SpaceX stock following a $2 billion (approx. ₦2.8 trillion) investment.

The filing showed that SpaceX and xAI together purchased approximately $650 million (approx. ₦900.7 billion) worth of goods and services from Tesla last year.

That included roughly $506 million (approx. ₦701.1 billion) spent by xAI on Tesla Megapack battery systems.

SpaceX separately spent around $144 million (approx. ₦199.5 billion) on commercial purchases from Tesla, including approximately $131 million (approx. ₦181.5 billion) on Tesla Cybertrucks at suggested retail prices.

The scale of those transactions highlighted the growing integration of Musk’s businesses as they increasingly rely on shared supply chains, manufacturing capabilities and infrastructure.

Tesla and SpaceX deepen AI collaboration

Artificial intelligence emerged as one of the central themes running through the IPO filing.

Both Tesla and SpaceX are aggressively positioning themselves around future AI infrastructure demand, with the companies increasingly collaborating on semiconductor development, robotics and computing capacity.

The filing disclosed plans for a “Terafab” chip-manufacturing facility being developed jointly by Tesla and SpaceX with assistance from Intel.

The facility is intended to support production of advanced chips needed for AI applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to orbital data centers.

Tesla is simultaneously advancing its AI-powered robo-taxi and humanoid robotics programs, while SpaceX is seeking to build space-based infrastructure capable of supporting future AI workloads.

The filing also detailed plans for a digital AI assistant integrated across the Musk corporate ecosystem.

The overlap in leadership between Tesla and SpaceX was also highlighted in the filing.

Ira Ehrenpreis currently serves as a director at both companies, while Antonio Gracias and Steve Jurvetson previously served on Tesla’s board before joining SpaceX.

Tesla has additionally supported SpaceX through hardware purchasing operations, while xAI has purchased services directly from Tesla in the past.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the disclosures reinforced expectations that Tesla and SpaceX could eventually become even more closely connected.

"We continue to ⁠believe that SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one company in 2027 with the groundwork ​already in place for both operations to become one organization," Ives said.

Transactions with X and Musk entities draw attention

The filing also revealed financial arrangements involving Musk personally and his social-media platform X.

Tesla, which historically spent relatively little on traditional advertising, paid approximately $4 million (approx. ₦5.5 billion) for advertising placements on X during 2025.

The prospectus also disclosed aircraft-sharing arrangements involving Musk and Tesla, as well as security-related payments to a private company controlled by Musk.

The disclosures are likely to intensify scrutiny around governance and conflicts of interest, particularly given the increasing financial overlap among Musk-controlled businesses.

Some analysts argued the filing showed Musk gradually building a tightly integrated AI and technology conglomerate spanning transportation, computing, communications and space infrastructure.

Financial results expose scale of AI spending

The filing also revealed the enormous financial burden associated with Musk’s AI expansion plans.

SpaceX generated revenue of $18.6 billion (approx. ₦25.8 trillion) last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion (approx. ₦6.8 trillion).

During the first quarter of this year, the company generated $4.7 billion (approx. ₦6.5 trillion) in revenue while posting a net loss of $4.3 billion (approx. ₦6 trillion) .

The balance sheet showed $102 billion (approx. ₦141.3 trillion) in assets alongside debt totaling $60.5 billion (approx. ₦83.8 trillion).

The filing showed that only one of SpaceX’s three core business segments was profitable during the first quarter.

The Starlink satellite internet division generated an operating profit of $1.2 billion (approx. ₦1.6 trillion), benefiting from growing demand for global connectivity services.

However, those profits were insufficient to offset losses elsewhere in the company.

The AI division alone generated operating losses of $2.5 billion (approx. ₦3.4 trillion) on revenue of $818 million (approx. ₦1.1 trillion) during the quarter.

The space business itself recorded operating losses of $619 million (approx. ₦857.7 billion).

Much of the spending increase stemmed from SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI earlier this year.

Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at US venture capital firm Citrine Venture Partners, told the BBC "It's not shocking for a project like this to be loss-making, even at the point of IPO".

According to the filing, xAI accounted for 76% of SpaceX’s $10.1 billion (approx. ₦14 trillion) in first-quarter capital expenditures.

The company acknowledged that many of its future revenue opportunities depend on technologies and markets that remain unproven.

Anthropic agreement signals AI infrastructure ambitions

Another major revelation in the filing involved a large-scale agreement with Anthropic, the developer of Claude.

According to the prospectus, Anthropic will pay approximately $15 billion (approx. ₦20.8 trillion) annually to access AI data-center infrastructure in the American South operated through xAI.

The agreement provided one of the clearest indications yet of how SpaceX intends to monetize its AI infrastructure investments.

The filing suggested that orbital computing infrastructure and AI-related services could eventually become central pillars of the company’s future business model.

Analysts debate valuation and Musk halo effect

The IPO filing also intensified debate around how investors should value SpaceX given the absence of comparable public companies.

Analysts and academics said Musk’s public persona and track record may play an unusually large role in investor demand.

“There is somewhat of a halo effect around Musk and his unconventional vision,” Reena Aggarwal, finance professor at Georgetown University, said in a Reuters report.

“It is difficult to value companies like this because there is no peer group for comparison.”

If SpaceX achieves its reported valuation target of $1.8 trillion (approx. ₦2,424.8 trillion), it would surpass Saudi Aramco’s 2019 IPO as the largest public offering ever.

The listing could also push Musk’s personal fortune beyond $1 trillion (approx. ₦1,385.6 trillion).

SpaceX currently values itself at approximately $1.3 trillion (approx. ₦1,732 trillion), and Musk’s majority ownership stake is estimated to be worth more than $600 billion (approx. ₦831.4 trillion) alone.

Already the world’s richest person, Musk became the first individual to surpass a net worth of $500 billion (approx. ₦692.8 trillion) last year.

The SpaceX IPO now threatens to redefine not only the scale of technology listings but also the concentration of wealth and corporate influence surrounding a single entrepreneur.