Is the SpaceX IPO Elon Musk's Master Plan to Win the AI Race?

"2026 is poised to become the year of IPOs. Elon Musk's SpaceX is planning an IPO that could value the company at more than $1.5 trillion and potentially raise more than $100 billion in capital. And the Journal also now reports Amazon is in talks with OpenAI to invest $50 billion, with the company targeting its own mega IPO in late 2026."

"But perhaps the most interesting news of all is that Musk is considering a broad range of options that include either Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) or xAI merging with SpaceX. Musk is famous for publishing his 'Secret Master Plans' that lay out Tesla's strategy. It appears Musk may be using SpaceX's IPO to raise the capital necessary to win the biggest target of all: The AI race."

"Here's what Musk is up against. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has poured $13 billion into OpenAI and generates $166.4 billion in annual EBITDA to fund more. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) backs its AI efforts with $145.2 billion in EBITDA and a $4.1 trillion market cap. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) just announced its spending $110 billion to $135 billion on capital expenditures this year. In short, Market Zuckerberg is putting almost every cent of profits back into funding AI."

SpaceX is planning an IPO that could value the company at more than $1.5 trillion and potentially raise over $100 billion. Amazon is in talks to invest $50 billion in OpenAI while targeting its own mega IPO in late 2026. Musk is considering merging Tesla or xAI with SpaceX to mobilize capital for AI competition. Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta possess far larger cashflow and spending capacity to fund AI infrastructure. OpenAI and Anthropic may pursue IPOs to raise hundreds of billions for data centers. Tesla's cash and short-term investments total under $50 billion, constraining Musk's funding options.

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