Musk Paints Moon Travel Vision as SpaceX Makes History with IPO

(Central News Agency reporter Liao Han-yuan, New York, December 12) Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), a space exploration and artificial intelligence company, officially listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York today. CEO Elon Musk expressed his hope to bring consumers to the Moon in the future. This world's largest IPO not only attracted strong investor demand but also drew large crowds of supporters outside the exchange, marking the beginning of a new wave of AI-related listings on U.S. markets.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and President and COO Gwynne Shotwell arrived at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, Manhattan, New York, on the morning of the 12th to attend the official listing ceremony and ring the opening bell for trading.

Inside the trading floor, excitement was palpable, while the square outside was filled with enthusiastic supporters and media crews, adding to the celebratory atmosphere of this historic IPO.

Before the market opened, Musk expressed excitement, saying, "SpaceX hopes to take you to the Moon," and added, "I am confident that with this incredible team, we will make it happen for you."

Large digital billboards surrounding Times Square began broadcasting SpaceX's listing promotional videos early in the morning, showing rocket launches into space, drawing the gaze of many tourists and supporters.

SpaceX listed under the ticker symbol SPCX at USD 135 per share, aiming to raise USD 75 billion. Due to trading restrictions on pre-IPO shares, no trading price was immediately available after the opening.

Investor Ben Brogan said he was thrilled, noting that SpaceX has been around for 23 years and achieved many milestones, making its IPO feel almost surreal. He looks forward to more major developments from SpaceX, stating that this is just the beginning.

He believes SpaceX could become even larger than Tesla, integrating launch capabilities with space operations and now incorporating artificial intelligence (AI), which will lead capital markets to witness unprecedented value appreciation.

U.S. capital markets have not seen such a listing boom in over a decade due to U.S.-China tensions and the pandemic. SpaceX's listing has attracted extensive media coverage.

Alibaba raised about USD 25 billion when it listed in the U.S. in 2014. SpaceX's offering is three times larger and also surpasses Saudi Aramco's 2019 IPO on the Saudi stock exchange, which raised about USD 29 billion, making it the largest IPO in history.

Musk fan Elvis said that in terms of future value, this is the largest corporate listing globally and a step toward the future. Without going public, it might take SpaceX 200 years to enable human space exploration, "by which time we won't be around anymore. This is paving the way for the future."

He believes that with fresh capital from the IPO, SpaceX can advance more ambitious plans. Musk has faced failures before, nearly going bankrupt 15 to 20 years ago. Yet they have achieved many things, with Starlink being one of them—providing global internet connectivity, even for ships at sea for months or years.

The AI wave over recent years has driven significant stock market gains in the U.S., Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, with chip design, manufacturing, and related companies seeing their valuations soar.

SpaceX is opening the floodgates for U.S. tech and AI startups to go public. AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI have already filed for IPOs, both expected to reach near-trillion-dollar valuations, with Anthropic potentially listing this fall. (Editor: Chen Cheng-chien) 1150612

Stand with the truth—your support protects press freedom.

Download the CNA "Breaking News" app to stay updated.

Text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, broadcast, or transmitted without authorization.