Reuters: SpaceX IPO May Restrict Chinese Investment

(Central News Agency, Taipei, 5th) Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) will launch its IPO on the 12th. Reuters reported that SpaceX's official website and IPO marketing documents are inaccessible in Hong Kong and mainland China today. This move may limit local investors' participation in what is expected to be the world's largest IPO.

SpaceX plans to raise $75 billion (approximately NT$2.36 trillion) through the initial public offering (IPO), which would be the largest globally. The transaction would value SpaceX at $1.75 trillion, making it one of the top 10 most valuable publicly traded companies in the United States.

According to a Reuters survey, users in most major Asian markets, excluding mainland China and Hong Kong, can access SpaceX's website and IPO documents. The reason for and timing of the access restriction are currently undetermined.

The Reuters survey found that users in both mainland China and Hong Kong receive an Error 1009 prompt when attempting to access the SpaceX website and marketing materials.

The report cites cybersecurity service provider Cloudflare, stating that the most common explanation for this error is that the website owner has "blocked" access from the country or region where the relevant IP address is located.

Francis Fong, Honorary President of the Hong Kong Information Technology Chamber of Commerce, said such network blocks are usually a corporate decision. He noted that while Hong Kong users have also been unable to access some US government websites in recent years, this situation is rare for a large corporation.

The report mentions that in February of this year, two US Democratic senators urged the Pentagon to immediately review SpaceX, following allegations that Chinese investors had secretly acquired shares in the private company, potentially posing a US national security risk.

The report stated that neither SpaceX nor the five major Wall Street investment banks assisting with the IPO immediately responded to Reuters' requests for comment. (Editor: Yang Shengru / Chen Yanjun) 1150605