<p><strong>SpaceX</strong> is gearing up for what could be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. The rocket and satellite specialist publicly filed its S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, and reports point to a Nasdaq debut under the ticker SPCX as soon as June 12. Pricing is expected the night before, with the investor roadshow kicking off in early June.</p>
<p>The targeted valuation: somewhere between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion. That range is notable because it would put SpaceX above <strong>Tesla</strong> <span class="ticker-mention inline-flex items-center font-bold">(TSLA <span class="ml-1 text-green-900">+1.56%</span>)</span> -- the electric vehicle and energy company run by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk -- on day one. Tesla's market capitalization sits at about $1.65 trillion as of this writing. </p>
<p>So how does a company that lost about $4.9 billion last year leapfrog an automaker generating more than $22 billion in quarterly revenue? The answer has less to do with rockets than with what the rockets put into orbit.</p>
<div class="image"><img alt="A spacecraft lifting off." width="880" height="492" class="h-auto max-w-full rounded object-contain" src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://g.foolcdn.com/image//query-b3A9cmVzaXplJnVybD1odHRwczovL2cuZm9vbGNkbi5jb20vZWRpdG9yaWFsL2ltYWdlcy84NzE5NTgvc3BhY2V4LXJvY2tldC5qcGVnJnc9Mzg0MA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://g.foolcdn.com/image//query-b3A9cmVzaXplJnVybD1odHRwczovL2cuZm9vbGNkbi5jb20vZWRpdG9yaWFsL2ltYWdlcy84NzE5NTgvc3BhY2V4LXJvY2tldC5qcGVnJnc9Mzg0MA"/>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
</div>
<h2>Starlink is doing the heavy lifting</h2>
<p>For all the attention focused on Starship, the part of SpaceX doing the financial heavy lifting is Starlink. The connectivity segment, which is primarily Starlink, generated $11.4 billion in revenue in 2025 -- up nearly 50% year over year, according to the S-1. Operating income for the segment more than doubled to $4.4 billion, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) jumped 86% to roughly $7.2 billion.</p><div class="my-8 lg:hidden"><div id="foolcom_sidebar_top_container" class="pitch-container"><div class="min-h-[350px] rounded border border-gray-200 bg-white p-4 shadow-sm"><div class="mb-3 h-4 w-2/3 rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="mb-2 h-3 w-full rounded bg-gray-100"></div><div class="h-3 w-5/6 rounded bg-gray-100"></div></div></div></div>
<p>Subscriber growth is similarly impressive. Today, Starlink boasts 10.3 million subscribers across 164 countries, up from 8.9 million at the end of 2025, 4.4 million in 2024, and 2.3 million in 2023.</p><div class="mb-8 flex justify-center"></div>
<p>Revenue per subscriber, however, has come down -- from about $99 a month in 2023 to roughly $66 in March -- as cheaper plans and expansion into developing markets pull the average down. Still, the segment generated $3.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter alone, with $2.1 billion of adjusted EBITDA. Starlink, on its own, is now a major satellite business growing at an uncanny rate.</p><div><div id="in_line_article_pitch_container" class="pitch-container"><div class="my-32px p-40px relative mx-auto min-h-[660px] overflow-hidden rounded border border-gray-200 bg-gray-100 md:min-h-[300px]"><div class="border-b-1px pb-16px border-dotted border-gray-300"><div class="h-8 w-2/3 rounded bg-gray-200"></div></div><div class="mt-16px space-y-3"><div class="h-6 w-full rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="h-6 w-11/12 rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="h-12 w-48 rounded bg-gray-300"></div></div></div></div></div>
<p>The headline net loss largely reflects something else. SpaceX's newly consolidated artificial intelligence (AI) segment, which folds in xAI following a February merger that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion, lost $6.4 billion in 2025 and another $2.5 billion in the first quarter. SpaceX said in the S-1 that it expects to begin deploying orbital AI compute satellites &#34;as early as 2028.&#34;</p>
<section><div class="flex flex-wrap place-content-between"><div class="flex w-full place-items-center lg:w-3/4"><div class="p-[8px] text-center" style="width: 95px"><small><div class="flex flex-col items-center gap-2">Expand</div></small></div><div class="py-4 pr-4"><img alt="Tesla Stock Quote" width="64" height="64" class="w-full flex-none object-contain" src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://g.foolcdn.com/image//query-b3A9cmVzaXplJnVybD1odHRwczovL2cuZm9vbGNkbi5jb20vYXJ0L2NvbXBhbnlsb2dvcy9tYXJrL1RTTEEucG5nJnc9MTI4?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://g.foolcdn.com/image//query-b3A9cmVzaXplJnVybD1odHRwczovL2cuZm9vbGNkbi5jb20vYXJ0L2NvbXBhbnlsb2dvcy9tYXJrL1RTTEEucG5nJnc9MTI4"/></div><div class="pr-[16px]"><h2>NASDAQ: TSLA</h2><div class="text-md leading-[1] font-medium text-gray-800">Tesla</div></div></div><div class="flex w-full place-items-center lg:w-1/4"><div class="h-full w-5/6 px-4 py-2.5 lg:text-right bg-green-200"><div class="mb-[2px] text-[10px] text-gray-800">Today's Change</div><div class="mb-6 text-[18px] leading-none font-medium text-green-900">(1.56%) $6.76</div><div class="mb-[2px] text-[10px] text-gray-800">Current Price</div><div class="text-gray-1100 text-[18px] leading-none font-medium">$440.35</div></div><div class="flex h-full w-1/6 items-center justify-center py-2.5 bg-green-900"></div></div></div><div class="flex flex-wrap overflow-hidden transition-all duration-300 h-0"><div class="w-full border-t border-gray-300 p-2 lg:w-3/4 lg:border-r lg:p-6"></div><div class="w-full p-2 lg:w-1/4 lg:p-4"><h3>Key Data Points</h3><div class="text-gray-1100 my-[14px] grid grid-cols-2 text-sm"><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-gray-800">Market Cap</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-right font-bold">$1.6T</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-gray-800">Day's Range</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-right font-bold">$435.56 - $445.57</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-gray-800">52wk Range</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-right font-bold">$273.21 - $498.83</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-gray-800">Volume</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-right font-bold">2.4M</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-gray-800">Avg Vol</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-right font-bold">61.7M</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-gray-800">Gross Margin</div><div class="border-b border-gray-300 py-[14px] text-right font-bold">19.07%</div></div></div></div></section>
<h2>Tesla, meanwhile, is in transition</h2>
<p>The contrast with Tesla is what makes the comparison interesting. The electric vehicle and energy company just emerged from its first year of annual revenue decline, with 2025 sales falling for the first time in its history as a public company. First-quarter results in 2026 showed revenue rising 16% to $22.4 billion, but deliveries of 358,023 missed expectations, and management told investors that capital expenditures would climb above $25 billion this year, largely to fund AI compute and upcoming products like the Cybercab. </p>
<p>So while Tesla is plowing record sums into projects that won't generate meaningful revenue until 2027 or later, the market is being asked to size up a SpaceX whose AI bets are similarly speculative but whose anchor business -- satellite broadband -- is already booming.</p>
<p>Notably, Musk cautioned during Tesla's first-quarter earnings call that the company's autonomous ride-sharing business won't be material this year. Strip that story out, and what's left is an automaker with a vehicle business that contracted in 2025 and an energy segment that posted a 12% revenue decline in the first quarter -- a dismal business for one trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 400 as of this writing.</p>
<p>Ultimately, this is a useful reminder that the market is already paying a heavy multiple for stories Tesla hasn't yet shipped at scale.</p>
<p>That same patience -- the willingness to pay up today for businesses that may take years to deliver -- is what SpaceX is asking the public to extend the moment it lists.</p><div id="article_pitch_container" class="pitch-container"><div class="mb-32px p-24px min-h-[1000px] bg-gray-100 md:min-h-[560px]"><div class="mb-8px h-10 w-60 rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="mb-16px h-8 w-48 rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="mb-2 h-4 w-full rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="mb-2 h-4 w-5/6 rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="mb-2 h-4 w-4/6 rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="mt-16px h-12 w-44 rounded bg-gray-300"></div><div class="mt-20px h-3 w-3/4 rounded bg-gray-200"></div></div></div><div id="promobox_container" class="pitch-container"><div class="min-h-[570px] rounded border border-gray-200 bg-gray-100 p-4 md:min-h-[350px]"><div class="mb-3 h-4 w-2/3 rounded bg-gray-200"></div><div class="mb-2 h-3 w-full rounded bg-gray-100"></div><div class="mb-2 h-3 w-5/6 rounded bg-gray-100"></div><div class="mt-6 h-28 w-full rounded bg-gray-200"></div></div></div>

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<p>SpaceX is preparing for a potential record IPO, aiming for a valuation between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion, surpassing Tesla's current market cap of $1.65 trillion. The company's revenue is driven by its Starlink segment, which generated $11.4 billion in 2025. Despite a net loss due to its AI segment, SpaceX's growth contrasts with Tesla's recent revenue decline and high capital expenditures. The IPO is expected to debut on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX on June 12.</p>

- SpaceX is preparing for a historic IPO with a targeted valuation between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion, expected to debut on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX.  
- The company's financial strength is driven by Starlink, generating $11.4 billion in revenue in 2025, while Tesla faces declining revenues and increasing capital expenditures.  
- As SpaceX invites investors to support speculative AI ventures, it contrasts with Tesla's struggles, highlighting the market's willingness to invest in long-term potential rather than immediate results.

SpaceX Could Be Worth More Than Tesla the Moment It Goes Public. Here's Why.