SpaceX lowered its IPO valuation target because investors are no longer pricing the AI story blindly. According to Bloomberg, SpaceX now targets a valuation of at least $1.8 trillion for its upcoming public debut. That figure sits below the $2 trillion target the company floated in April. The revision came after consultations with advisers and investors. Furthermore, formal marketing is expected to begin as early as June 4, with a pricing target of June 11. The drop is not panic. However, it is a signal worth reading carefully.

A Profitable Core Under Pressure From an Inherited Bet

Start with the numbers. SpaceX generated $18.7 billion in revenue in 2025, up from $14 billion the prior year. That growth is real. However, the company swung from a profit of $791 million in 2024 to a net loss of $4.94 billion in 2025. The culprit is the massive infrastructure runway required for frontier artificial intelligence. While the formal acquisition of xAI did not close until February 2026, the 2025 balance sheet reflects intense capital allocation. SpaceX absorbed the operational burn required to build out xAI's massive Colossus supercomputer clusters during this period. Total capital expenditure in Q1 2026 alone exceeded $10 billion. Roughly $7.7 billion of that went to the AI infrastructure segment. Starlink, by contrast, received just $1.3 billion. That allocation reveals where SpaceX is placing its biggest bet.

Starlink Remains the Asset Investors Actually Understand

Starlink is the clearest part of SpaceX's value story. The satellite network now serves users across 164 countries. It operates ...