SINGAPORE PERSPECTIVE

Singapore, May 21, 2026. When Channel News Asia takes on the story of SpaceX's IPO, it's less about the space exploit and more about the financial radiography of a giant with feet of clay. The article published on May 20 exposes the contradictions of a group that aims for a valuation of $1,750 billion while showing an operating loss of $1.94 billion in the first quarter of 2026.

The connectivity pole, anchored to Starlink, remains the only profitable division: $1.19 billion in operating profit on $4.69 billion in quarterly revenue. But this performance is drowned out by the hemorrhage of the AI sector, which alone has swallowed $2.47 billion in losses for only $818 million in revenue. The integration of xAI, acquired in February, concentrates 76% of the $10.1 billion in capital expenditures engaged in the first quarter - a figure that gives the scale of the bet made.

What CNA emphasizes with insistence is the governance structure. Elon Musk will retain 85.1% of the combined voting power after listing, cumulating the positions of CEO, CTO, and Chairman. Minority shareholders will have a virtually zero margin of maneuver in the face of his decisions. The regulatory dossier provides for a conditional remuneration mechanism tied to audacious objectives: establishing a permanent colony on Mars and building orbital data centers powered by 100 terawatts of power.

The Singaporean media reports the concept of the 'halo effect' theorized by Reena Aggarwal, finance professor at Georgetown University: 'It's difficult to value companies like this because there is no comparable group.' This lack of sectoral benchmarking constitutes an unprecedented analytical challenge for the markets. The targeted valuation would set an absolute record, surpassing Aramco's introduction in 2019.

SpaceX aims to launch the roadshow on June 4 and enter the stock market as early as June 11 or 12. The schedule coincides with a test flight of the next-generation Starship rocket planned for the week. For Singapore, a regional financial hub attentive to the great maneuvers of Wall Street, the operation raises as many questions about the sustainability of the AI model as about the ability of the markets to absorb an introduction exceeding the trillion-dollar threshold - a milestone never reached in the history of American IPOs.