U.S. space and artificial intelligence (AI) company SpaceX has locked in the largest initial public offering (IPO) on record, with a splashy market debut now imminent. Chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk is widely expected to become the first ‘trillionaire’ in human history, defined as net worth of 1 trillion dollars or more.

On the 11th (local time) SpaceX said in an official statement that it had set the offering price at 135 dollars per share. As a result, SpaceX will raise 75 billion dollars (about 114 trillion won) and lift its valuation to 1.75 trillion dollars (about 2,660 trillion won). That more than doubles the 29.4 billion dollars raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019.

The New York Times (NYT) reported that, at the IPO price, the stake in SpaceX held by Musk is valued at about 690 billion dollars and his stake in Tesla at about 279 billion dollars. If the SpaceX share price rises even a little after listing, his total wealth will exceed 1 trillion dollars. In effect, the byword for the richest person in the world will shift from ‘billionaire’ to ‘trillionaire’.

Analysts had initially expected the IPO price for SpaceX to be set around 63 dollars per share. Musk instead put forward 135 dollars per share, more than twice that. Even so, investors poured in, placing orders for more than three times the shares on offer.

The BBC said, “Interest has surged in the stock of this fascinating company run by Musk, who is described as an original and disruptive genius,” and added, “An opportunity has opened for ordinary people to buy SpaceX shares.”

Red-hot interest in SpaceX shares reflects both expectations for Musk himself and confidence in the potential of the AI industry. Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, changed the landscape of the space sector with reusable rockets and the Starlink satellite internet service. Since integrating with xAI in February, SpaceX has also accelerated its transformation into an AI infrastructure company. Through Tesla, Musk also pioneered the electric vehicle industry.

His business concepts were often seen as “somewhere between a dream and a joke,” yet he has turned ambitious ideas into reality by challenging conventional wisdom. The NYT assessed the SpaceX IPO record as a milestone proving that Musk, already the richest person in the world, wields formidable influence and that capital markets have overwhelming confidence in his business vision.

However, concerns that the company valuation has been excessively inflated are significant. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) noted that the company generated 18.7 billion dollars in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of 4.3 billion dollars in the first quarter of this year alone due to massive spending on AI and other development.

The rocket business is not yet profitable, and while the most profitable line at present is Starlink, even the most optimistic estimates value that segment at about 300 billion dollars, less than 20% of SpaceX overall valuation of 1.75 trillion dollars. Underwriter Goldman Sachs predicted that AI-related revenue at SpaceX would increase one hundredfold by 2030, but some call that overly optimistic.

The NYT said that projects underway at SpaceX, such as building space-based AI data centers and constructing a crewed base on Mars, invite doubts about whether the goals are achievable.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat-Massachusetts) on the 9th sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking whether it had reviewed the basis for SpaceX business claims and financial projections, asserting that it “could become the most rigged IPO in U.S. history.”

Some in particular criticize as abnormal a governance structure in which Musk continues to exercise 85% of voting rights even after the IPO. Musk owns 42% of SpaceX shares, but his shares carry multiple votes, allowing him to cast 10 votes per share.

As a result, removing Musk from the CEO position is fundamentally impossible in any circumstance. Observers warn that a governance structure that cannot rein him in could become a risk factor for corporate value. He has faced criticism for pouring 300 million dollars into electing President Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election and for damaging Tesla brand value through political outbursts.

Financial journalist Robert Armstrong asked the BBC, “Holding shares means holding ownership of a company, but can ownership without control truly be called ownership?” He added, “Under a dual-class voting structure, ordinary shareholders cannot influence management, so they should be able to buy the shares at a discount,” arguing that SpaceX stock is too expensive.

The NYT predicted that SpaceX will become a benchmark for other AI companies preparing to go public, including OpenAI and Anthropic. It added, “This is expected to pour immense wealth into Silicon Valley and Wall Street and, in the process, to create new titans,” and, “A defining feature of such IPOs is that they make the rich even richer.”