"SpaceX to pursue IPO next year…company value projected at 2,200 trillion won"

Bloomberg "Confirms SpaceX is pursuing an IPO"

Considering a mid-to-late next year listing schedule

Musk effectively admits via social media

Could surpass Saudi Aramco's record

SpaceX, the space company led by Elon Musk, is formally pursuing an initial public offering (IPO). Musk has acknowledged the matter for the first time. The timing of the listing is said to be next year.

On the 10th (local time), Bloomberg News, citing sources, reported, "SpaceX is preparing an IPO next year aiming to raise more than 30 billion dollars (about 44 trillion won)." The company's valuation is expected to reach up to 1.5 trillion dollars (about 2,200 trillion won).

If successful, it would set the largest IPO on record. To date, the world's largest IPO was Saudi Aramco in 2019, which raised 29 billion dollars (about 42.7 trillion won) at the time. According to Bloomberg, SpaceX management is considering a mid-to-late next year timing for the listing. The funds raised are planned to be used for developing space-based data centers and securing semiconductor chips.

Musk has effectively acknowledged such reporting. Quoting the Bloomberg report, he replied to a social media post by Eric Berger, an aerospace reporter at Ars Technica who published a follow-up analysis, saying, "As always, Eric is right." In his article, Berger said, "I have confirmed SpaceX's plan for an IPO next year," and assessed that "this signifies a major shift in thinking for the world's largest space company and its founder Elon Musk."

Berger analyzed that the reason Musk, who had previously resisted a SpaceX IPO, changed his mind is that large-scale funding is needed for the fusion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology with aerospace engineering and for plans to build space AI data centers.

Reporter Im Dayeon allopen@hankyung.com