SpaceX filed for an initial public offering on Wednesday, as the Elon Musk-owned rocket manufacturer moves to raise more capital for its space, AI and satellite ventures. 

The move comes after SpaceX filed a confidential IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month. SpaceX did not disclose how much money it is seeking to raise, but previous estimates put the amount at up to $75 billion.

SpaceX's IPO could be the largest in history, a record currently held by Saudi Aramco. The state-owned petroleum and natural gas company, based in Saudi Arabia, raised $25.6 billion in its 2019 initial public offering, according to Renaissance Capital, an investment bank. 

SpaceX said in a securities filing that it will trade on the Nasdaq Composite exchange under the ticker symbol "SPCX." 

The Texas-based company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Multiplanetary ambitions

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 to develop and launch spacecraft. The Texas-based company also owns Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, and his satellite company, Starlink. 

According to SpaceX's filing, the company lost $2.6 billion from its operations last year on $18.7 billion in revenue. SpaceX generated nearly $4.7 billion in revenue in the first three months of 2026.

Most of the company's space-related revenue comes from launching and operating its Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon rockets and spacecraft for commercial and government customers.

"We believe SpaceX's reusable rockets, scaled satellite manufacturing and operational expertise can enable the cost-effective and rapid deployment of massive AI compute satellite constellations — with potentially millions of satellites — for orbital data centers," the company said in the filing. 

SpaceX sees a vast potential market for its products and services, valued at more than $28 trillion. That includes $370 billion for its space ventures, $1.6 trillion for broadband services, $26.5 trillion in AI services, nearly $23 trillion in enterprise technology and $600 billion in digital advertising. 

The IPO prospectus also underscores SpaceX's broader ambitions, including establishing space colonies. 

"Our mission is 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 said in the filing. 

SpaceX-Tesla merger?

Money raised from the IPO could help Musk finance other ambitious projects, such as putting data centers in space and possibly sending a person to Mars. It could also help make Musk, the world's richest person, the first-ever trillionaire.

Such projects face daunting challenges. Said Wall Street analyst Adam Crisafulli in a note to clients: "The problem is that space-based data centers are far from guaranteed, and many consider them operationally and economically unfeasible, not only at the present time, but for (at least) the next several years."

After the IPO, Musk will be SpaceX's CEO, chief technology officer and chairman of the board, as well as retain majority voting power over the company, according to Wedbush Securities.

"Musk wants to own and control more of the AI ecosystem, and step by step, the holy grail could be combining SpaceX and Tesla in some way to give the connected tissue between both disruptive tech stalwarts looking to lead the AI revolution," Wedbush analysts said in a research note.