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wrote a column · May 21 17:15

SpaceX released its IPO prospectus, and its biggest backer turns out to be its archrival Anthropic

After more than two decades of secrecy, SpaceX has finally opened its books! On the afternoon of May 20 local time—early morning Beijing time today—SpaceX filed a nearly 400-page Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, formally launching its IPO application with plans to go public as early as June 12. This marks the first time SpaceX has systematically disclosed its business and financial information to the public markets. After carefully reviewing the filing, the most astonishing revelation is this: Forget about it being merely a rocket company that recently dipped its toes into artificial intelligence—this is clearly already an AI company boasting the world’s best rocket business. 01 Ah, AI—the costly yet delectable frontier Let’s first examine the highlights of this IPO filing. Even before SpaceX officially submitted its documents, the outside world already knew the company was no longer just a traditional aerospace firm. With xAI and X now integrated into SpaceX’s structure and the substantial computing power partnership between Anthropic and SpaceX, 'AI' had already been woven into SpaceX’s narrative ahead of time. Yet upon actually reading the S-1 registration statement, it’s clear that AI’s role within the company exceeds what one would typically consider a mere 'new business line.' In the S-1 registration statement, SpaceX is now divided into three segments: aerospace, communications, and artificial intelligence. . The aerospace segment includes rocket launches, spaceflight, Starship, as well as contracts with NASA, the U.S. ...
After more than two decades of secrecy, SpaceX has finally opened its books!
On the afternoon of May 20 local time—early morning Beijing time today—SpaceX filed a nearly 400-page S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, initiating its IPO application and targeting a listing as early as June 12.
After more than two decades of secrecy, SpaceX has finally opened its books! On the afternoon of May 20 local time—early morning Beijing time today—SpaceX filed a nearly 400-page Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, formally launching its IPO application with plans to go public as early as June 12. This marks the first time SpaceX has systematically disclosed its business and financial information to the public markets. After carefully reviewing the filing, the most astonishing revelation is this: Forget about it being merely a rocket company that recently dipped its toes into artificial intelligence—this is clearly already an AI company boasting the world’s best rocket business. 01 Ah, AI—the costly yet delectable frontier Let’s first examine the highlights of this IPO filing. Even before SpaceX officially submitted its documents, the outside world already knew the company was no longer just a traditional aerospace firm. With xAI and X now integrated into SpaceX’s structure and the substantial computing power partnership between Anthropic and SpaceX, 'AI' had already been woven into SpaceX’s narrative ahead of time. Yet upon actually reading the S-1 registration statement, it’s clear that AI’s role within the company exceeds what one would typically consider a mere 'new business line.' In the S-1 registration statement, SpaceX is now divided into three segments: aerospace, communications, and artificial intelligence. . The aerospace segment includes rocket launches, spaceflight, Starship, as well as contracts with NASA, the U.S. ...
This marks the first time SpaceX has systematically presented its business operations and financial information to the public markets.
After carefully reviewing the filing, the most astonishing revelation was this: Is this really just a rocket company newly venturing into artificial intelligence? It’s clearly already an AI company with the world’s best rocket business.
01
Ah, this expensive yet delectable AI
Let’s first look at the highlights of this IPO filing.
Even before SpaceX officially submitted its documents, it was already known externally that the company was no longer just a traditional aerospace firm. xAI and X have been integrated into SpaceX’s structure, and the substantial computing power collaboration between Anthropic and SpaceX had already woven 'AI' into SpaceX’s narrative.
Yet upon actually reading the S-1 registration statement, it’s clear that AI’s role within it goes well beyond what would normally be considered a 'new business segment.'
In the S-1 registration statement, SpaceX is now divided into three segments: aerospace, communications, and AI.
• The aerospace segment includes rocket launches, spaceflight, Starship, and missions for NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and commercial customers;
• The communications segment largely corresponds to the satellite internet business centered on Starlink, which provides broadband, mobile connectivity, and other communication services via a low Earth orbit satellite network;
• The AI segment primarily stems from xAI and X, whose operations are now included under this financial reporting framework.
The AI segment appears in SpaceX’s IPO filing because SpaceX has completed its acquisition of xAI, which previously acquired X Holdings—the parent company of X/Twitter. Consequently, historical financial data in this IPO filing has been retrospectively restated to include xAI and X Holdings.
These three business segments are vastly different from one another.
In 2025, SpaceX’s aerospace segment generated revenue of USD 4.086 billion, contributing approximately USD 653 million in operating income based on SpaceX’s adjusted reporting basis.
It remains SpaceX’s technological foundation and the part of the company most widely recognized by the public, but in terms of revenue scale, it is no longer the largest business on the books.
The communications segment—home to Starlink—remains SpaceX’s cash cow. In 2025, this segment reported revenue of USD 11.387 billion, up 49.8% year-over-year, and delivered USD 7.168 billion in profit for SpaceX, with a margin of 63%, representing an 86.2% increase year-over-year.
It should be noted that Starlink, currently the most profitable of the three segments, is not without concerns.
Starlink is growing rapidly, with subscribers increasing from 5 million in Q1 2025 to 10.3 million in Q1 2026—doubling in one year.
After more than two decades of secrecy, SpaceX has finally opened its books! On the afternoon of May 20 local time—early morning Beijing time today—SpaceX filed a nearly 400-page Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, formally launching its IPO application with plans to go public as early as June 12. This marks the first time SpaceX has systematically disclosed its business and financial information to the public markets. After carefully reviewing the filing, the most astonishing revelation is this: Forget about it being merely a rocket company that recently dipped its toes into artificial intelligence—this is clearly already an AI company boasting the world’s best rocket business. 01 Ah, AI—the costly yet delectable frontier Let’s first examine the highlights of this IPO filing. Even before SpaceX officially submitted its documents, the outside world already knew the company was no longer just a traditional aerospace firm. With xAI and X now integrated into SpaceX’s structure and the substantial computing power partnership between Anthropic and SpaceX, 'AI' had already been woven into SpaceX’s narrative ahead of time. Yet upon actually reading the S-1 registration statement, it’s clear that AI’s role within the company exceeds what one would typically consider a mere 'new business line.' In the S-1 registration statement, SpaceX is now divided into three segments: aerospace, communications, and artificial intelligence. . The aerospace segment includes rocket launches, spaceflight, Starship, as well as contracts with NASA, the U.S. ...
However, Starlink’s monthly ARPU (average revenue per user) has declined from $99 in 2023 to $66 in Q1 2026, a roughly 33% drop over three years. In other words, under competitive pressure, Starlink may be trading lower per-user revenue for a larger subscriber base.
The AI business presents a different picture altogether.
In 2025, the AI segment generated $3.201 billion in revenue, yet still reported an operating loss of $1.237 billion—even using the company’s own adjusted operating profit methodology—and a staggering total operating loss of $6.36 billion. It is precisely this AI segment that has dragged the consolidated financial results into the red.
Put plainly, without the merger and without the drag from AI, SpaceX’s financials would look far healthier.
According to this filing, SpaceX now faces a situation broadly characterized as follows:
Its aerospace business benefits from high technological barriers but remains relatively limited in revenue scale; Starlink is currently generating cash flow; and while the AI segment already generates revenue, its expenses are so substantial that it’s more accurately described as a capital-intensive, money-burning new initiative.
Starlink makes money, while AI burns it—but AI also represents the greatest source of future market potential.
The IPO filing submitted by aerospace company SpaceX no longer paints a future centered on rockets or Starlink, but rather on the surging field of AI.
02
Give me a slice of that pie.
AI is still the best-selling cake in the market right now.
Here’s a distinctive aspect of the company’s vision—one that is particularly intriguing yet easily overlooked in this filing.
The prerequisite tied to Musk’s performance-based compensation is—establishing a Martian colony with one million residents; building an orbital data center with 100 terawatts of computing power; and achieving a company valuation of $7.5 trillion.
In other words, public shareholders participating in this IPO legally acknowledge that the company’s mission is not traditional terrestrial profitability, but interstellar expansion.
Even by 2026 standards, this is extraordinarily 'futuristic.'
Every S-1 filing requires a Total Addressable Market (TAM), and SpaceX’s TAM is arguably the largest in history. The company claims a quantifiable TAM of $28.5 trillion.
After more than two decades of secrecy, SpaceX has finally opened its books! On the afternoon of May 20 local time—early morning Beijing time today—SpaceX filed a nearly 400-page Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, formally launching its IPO application with plans to go public as early as June 12. This marks the first time SpaceX has systematically disclosed its business and financial information to the public markets. After carefully reviewing the filing, the most astonishing revelation is this: Forget about it being merely a rocket company that recently dipped its toes into artificial intelligence—this is clearly already an AI company boasting the world’s best rocket business. 01 Ah, AI—the costly yet delectable frontier Let’s first examine the highlights of this IPO filing. Even before SpaceX officially submitted its documents, the outside world already knew the company was no longer just a traditional aerospace firm. With xAI and X now integrated into SpaceX’s structure and the substantial computing power partnership between Anthropic and SpaceX, 'AI' had already been woven into SpaceX’s narrative ahead of time. Yet upon actually reading the S-1 registration statement, it’s clear that AI’s role within the company exceeds what one would typically consider a mere 'new business line.' In the S-1 registration statement, SpaceX is now divided into three segments: aerospace, communications, and artificial intelligence. . The aerospace segment includes rocket launches, spaceflight, Starship, as well as contracts with NASA, the U.S. ...
For context, global GDP in 2024 was approximately $110 trillion. SpaceX asserts its TAM represents roughly 26% of the world’s total economic output, with $22.7 trillion attributed primarily to 'enterprise AI applications.'
Additionally, the ‘Use of Proceeds’ section in the filing is relatively brief but clearly prioritized.
Top priority is ‘expansion of AI computing infrastructure.’ Second is ‘enhancement of launch infrastructure and launch vehicles,’ followed by ‘increasing satellite scale and capacity.’
Moreover, the business of leasing computing power is no longer just talk.
According to disclosures in its S-1 registration statement, SpaceX signed a cloud services agreement with Anthropic in May 2026, under which Anthropic will utilize computing capacity from the Colossus and Colossus 2 data centers.
Anthropic will pay SpaceX USD 1.25 billion per month through May 2029, amounting to roughly USD 15 billion annually and a total contract value of approximately USD 45 billion over 36 months. This annual revenue of USD 15 billion is nearly equivalent to SpaceX’s total revenue projected for 2025.
That makes the relationship quite delicate.
Anthropic itself is also a leading large-model company, competing directly with xAI. Now, while SpaceX owns xAI, it is simultaneously selling computing power to xAI’s rival, effectively turning Anthropic into one of its largest computing-power customers.
At the same time as the IPO filing was made public, Musk also posted a message on X specifically highlighting the computing-power partnership with Anthropic and emphasized that 'similar collaborations with other companies are underway.'
After more than two decades of secrecy, SpaceX has finally opened its books! On the afternoon of May 20 local time—early morning Beijing time today—SpaceX filed a nearly 400-page Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, formally launching its IPO application with plans to go public as early as June 12. This marks the first time SpaceX has systematically disclosed its business and financial information to the public markets. After carefully reviewing the filing, the most astonishing revelation is this: Forget about it being merely a rocket company that recently dipped its toes into artificial intelligence—this is clearly already an AI company boasting the world’s best rocket business. 01 Ah, AI—the costly yet delectable frontier Let’s first examine the highlights of this IPO filing. Even before SpaceX officially submitted its documents, the outside world already knew the company was no longer just a traditional aerospace firm. With xAI and X now integrated into SpaceX’s structure and the substantial computing power partnership between Anthropic and SpaceX, 'AI' had already been woven into SpaceX’s narrative ahead of time. Yet upon actually reading the S-1 registration statement, it’s clear that AI’s role within the company exceeds what one would typically consider a mere 'new business line.' In the S-1 registration statement, SpaceX is now divided into three segments: aerospace, communications, and artificial intelligence. . The aerospace segment includes rocket launches, spaceflight, Starship, as well as contracts with NASA, the U.S. ...
Another noteworthy detail involves Cursor.
The arrangement here is fairly complex and won’t be elaborated on in detail, but in brief, Cursor is essentially saying: 'We allow you, SpaceX, to acquire us for USD 60 billion, but if you walk away from the acquisition, you must pay us USD 10 billion.'
Therefore, when SpaceX discusses AI in its IPO filing, it’s not referring to a purely speculative long-term concept. It is already providing computing services via ground-based data centers and simultaneously seeking to extend this business into space.
SpaceX believes it is the only company with a commercially viable path to building large-scale orbital AI computing infrastructure.
The rationale is that it can deliver large masses into orbit at lower cost through reusable rockets and manufacture safe, reliable, high-performance satellites at low cost and high volume. Its long-term goal is to deploy 100 gigawatts of computing capacity annually in space, with orbital AI computing satellites expected to begin deployment as early as 2028.
03
Musk still holds the steering wheel.
SpaceX’s upcoming IPO has drawn intense external attention for numerous reasons—for instance, SpaceX was long considered one of the world’s most valuable private companies, and this IPO could potentially set a new record in scale.
More importantly, having absorbed segments like xAI and X, today’s SpaceX has become an extraordinarily complex behemoth.
No company has ever before combined aerospace, artificial intelligence, and a social media platform into a single entity. How exactly should SpaceX be viewed? Even Wall Street is feeling its way forward on this question.
Musk’s fixation on 'control' is extending further into SpaceX’s potential 'post-IPO era.'
Although the preliminary prospectus leaves the voting rights ratio blank, the structure is already clear: after the IPO, Elon Musk will retain majority voting control. He will hold Class B shares, granting him the right to elect a majority of the board members. Additionally, as a 'controlled company,' SpaceX will be exempt from certain Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.
After more than two decades of secrecy, SpaceX has finally opened its books! On the afternoon of May 20 local time—early morning Beijing time today—SpaceX filed a nearly 400-page Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, formally launching its IPO application with plans to go public as early as June 12. This marks the first time SpaceX has systematically disclosed its business and financial information to the public markets. After carefully reviewing the filing, the most astonishing revelation is this: Forget about it being merely a rocket company that recently dipped its toes into artificial intelligence—this is clearly already an AI company boasting the world’s best rocket business. 01 Ah, AI—the costly yet delectable frontier Let’s first examine the highlights of this IPO filing. Even before SpaceX officially submitted its documents, the outside world already knew the company was no longer just a traditional aerospace firm. With xAI and X now integrated into SpaceX’s structure and the substantial computing power partnership between Anthropic and SpaceX, 'AI' had already been woven into SpaceX’s narrative ahead of time. Yet upon actually reading the S-1 registration statement, it’s clear that AI’s role within the company exceeds what one would typically consider a mere 'new business line.' In the S-1 registration statement, SpaceX is now divided into three segments: aerospace, communications, and artificial intelligence. . The aerospace segment includes rocket launches, spaceflight, Starship, as well as contracts with NASA, the U.S. ...
According to a Reuters report prior to the filing—confirmed by the registration statement—Musk will hold approximately 79% of the voting power despite owning only about 42% of the economic equity. This gap is precisely the core purpose of a dual-class share structure.
This means that after SpaceX goes public, ordinary investors will be able to buy its stock but will have virtually no say in how the company is run—it’s more like hitching a ride on Musk’s vehicle than becoming a shareholder with influence over the steering wheel.
This approach mirrors the same strategy adopted by Meta, Alphabet, and several other major tech companies at their IPOs.
Even more notably:
The filing disclosed two performance-based awards totaling approximately 1.3 billion Class B shares. As previously mentioned, vesting of these shares is subject to certain conditions, similar to Tesla's approach.
The key point here isn't how much additional wealth Musk is about to accumulate.
The critical issue lies in another provision: the filing states that Musk 'may only be removed from the board or these positions by a vote of Class B shareholders'—and those Class B shares are the super-voting shares controlled by Musk himself.
In other words, only Musk can fire Musk.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the City of New York, and the New York State Comptroller have jointly sent a letter requesting that SpaceX implement several changes prior to its IPO, including 'adopting a one-share-one-vote structure,' 'eliminating provisions that tie Musk’s removal to his own voting power,' and 'maintaining independent compensation, nominating, and audit committees.'
The letter explicitly noted that the concurrent executive compensation proposals from Tesla and SpaceX place the two companies in 'an unusual situation where they are effectively competing for the attention of their shared CEO.'
For now, the news from SpaceX is straightforward: the most valuable private company in the U.S. has filed for an IPO, which is expected to set a record-high valuation—and the filing itself contains numerous moments that feel truly unprecedented.
Regardless, the upcoming 'SpaceX IPO' spectacle next month is certainly worth watching, though the future trajectory of this behemoth remains highly uncertain. $SpaceX (FT0002)$$Space (LIST2556.US)$$Space Themed ETF (LIST24173.US)$$Aerospace$$XAI Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust (XFLT.US)$$Tesla (TSLA.US)$$Tesla (LIST0426.SH)$
Risk Disclaimer: The above content only represents the author's view. It does not represent any position or investment advice of Futu. Futu makes no representation or warranty.Read more
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