This momentum carried over heavily into Q1 2026, when AI capex reached $7.7 billion. That number surpassed the company's full-year 2023 capex of $4.4 billion.
SpaceX's space and connectivity businesses are both EBITDA-positive. Investors hope the AI segment can follow a similar path, but on a capital base roughly 10 times larger.
SpaceX carries $29 billion in debt
As of March 31, 2026, SpaceX's total debt stands at $29.1 billion, including a $20 billion bridge loan established in March 2026 to retire xAI's legacy debt.
In the "Use of Proceeds" section of the S-1, SpaceX is focused on growth, noting investments in AI compute infrastructure, launch infrastructure, and satellite constellations. However, a separate liquidity disclosure reveals a stricter reality, disclosing that the $20 billion bridge loan must be repaid within six months of receiving IPO proceeds.
This means that a highly meaningful portion of what investors are funding through the IPO is actually a massive debt refinancing rather than new operating investments.
Further complicating the long-term capital outlook is a separate deal with EchoStar (SATS -7.00%) to acquire its wireless spectrum assets, set to close in November 2027. That deal includes the issuance of 261.8 million new Class A shares at $42.40 per share, plus up to $8.5 billion in cash.
As a result of these heavy financial commitments and restrictive debt covenants, no dividends are planned for the foreseeable future.
SpaceX dominates space launches, but is betting the future on Starship
SpaceX commanded more than 80% of the global mass to orbit in 2025, continuing an aggressive trajectory in which total payload mass surged from 1,210 metric tons in 2023 to 1,699 metric tons in 2024 and to 2,213 metric tons in 2025.
This scaling is underpinned by extreme efficiency, with Falcon Heavy reducing launch costs to low Earth orbit to just $1,400/kg — a 92% drop from NASA’s historical average of $18,500/kg.
Flight-proven boosters handled 157 of 165 launches in 2025, including a single booster reused 34 times.
While this unmatched launch dominance provides the structural foundation for both Starlink’s economics and the company's orbital AI ambitions, future growth hinges entirely on Starship, which received $3 billion in 2025 R&D and is targeting its first commercial payload delivery in the second half of 2026.
This timeline carries intense pressure because Starship has not yet successfully delivered a commercial payload to orbit.
The success of Starship could determine the success of the space business. The prospectus flags any potential Starship delay as the single most consequential risk to SpaceX's growth strategy.
How should investors think about the SpaceX IPO?
The prospectus confirms that SpaceX's core launch and satellite operations are robust, cash-generative engines, with the company commanding more than 80% of global mass to orbit in 2025 and Starlink generating $11.4 billion in connectivity revenue. But the steep 2025 net loss of $4.9 billion also shows the impact of growing investments into Starship R&D and a rapidly scaling AI infrastructure segment.
On governance and leverage, the filing discloses an incredibly restrictive structure in which Elon Musk controls 85.1% of the voting power, leaving public shareholders with economic exposure but no meaningful corporate governance rights. Furthermore, SpaceX carries $29.1 billion in total debt, including a critical $20 billion bridge loan used to retire xAI's legacy debt that must be repaid within six months of closing the IPO. It is clear that a meaningful portion of investor funds will immediately go toward debt refinancing rather than fueling fresh operational expansion.
Ultimately, the prospectus frames SpaceX as a high-stakes combination of an unparalleled aerospace growth story and an early-stage, capital-intensive AI titan. The opportunity lies in the company successfully replicating its space profitability model across an AI infrastructure segment built on a capital base roughly 10 times larger. The challenge, like the challenge of reusable rockets and moon colonies, is formidable. But the opportunity is massive if SpaceX can execute from here.
