Elon Musk pitches SpaceX as humanity's ticket to Mars. The company's own IPO registration tells a different story: its main business is now artificial intelligence.

Reuters obtained excerpts from SpaceX's IPO filing this week, and the numbers reframe everything we thought we knew about the company. In 2025, SpaceX's AI division, which houses xAI, consumed 61% of the company's total capital spending of $20.74 billion. That AI division posted a $6.4 billion operating loss. The rockets and satellites that made SpaceX famous? They're now the profitable side of the business that funds the unprofitable AI bet.

Starlink Is the Cash Machine

Starlink, SpaceX's satellite broadband arm, doubled its operating income last year to $4.42 billion. That comfortably covers the space division's losses from developing its next-generation satellite-carrying rocket. But it does not come close to covering the AI burn.

SpaceX's total capital spending exceeded its revenue by roughly $2 billion last year. Capital expenditure more than doubled. The company is spending faster than it earns, and the gap is widening.

"What investors will be looking for is clear visibility on how the business model evolves with this financing and whether it can make the economics of compute work at scale," said Melissa Otto, head of research at S&P Global Visible Alpha. "In many ways, SpaceX looks like a super-sized startup."

The $75 Billion IPO Question

SpaceX is targeting a $75 billion raise at a $1.75 trillion valuation, which would make it the largest IPO in history. The pitch to investors: a total addressable market of $28.5 trillion, most of it tied to AI for businesses.

But unlike Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Oracle, which plan to collectively spend over $600 billion on AI this year, SpaceX does not have deep operating cash flows from existing software or advertising businesses. Those companies have long runways and cushions if AI demand disappoints. SpaceX has rockets and internet satellites.

Analysts warn the company may need to return to capital markets within a few years if spending growth continues to outpace revenue. The cost of SpaceX's plan to launch a constellation of one million data-center satellites has been estimated in the trillions.

The Cursor Wildcard

SpaceX also holds an option to acquire AI coding startup Cursor for roughly $60 billion, or to walk away for a $10 billion collaboration fee. The structure lets SpaceX delay the decision until after its IPO, but either outcome carries risk. A full acquisition funded even partially in cash could accelerate the need for fresh capital. Walking away means losing access to Cursor's lucrative customer base.

"That doesn't make the story broken but it does mean IPO buyers would be paying upfront for a transformation that still needs to show up more clearly in the numbers," said Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities.

What It Means

The IPO filing confirms what has been increasingly obvious: SpaceX is an AI infrastructure company that happens to launch rockets. xAI's compute appetite is driving the majority of capital allocation. The Mars narrative is the brand. The AI bet is the business.

For investors, the question is whether Starlink's satellite profits and the upcoming IPO capital can sustain AI spending long enough for xAI to become self-funding. If the AI revenue ramp arrives on time, SpaceX joins the Big Tech compute race with unique orbital infrastructure. If it doesn't, the company will be burning through the largest IPO raise in history while competing against companies with ten times its revenue.

First reported by Reuters. IPO registration excerpts reviewed by Reuters. Additional reporting from BNN Bloomberg and US News.