SpaceX has two aces up its sleeve in the battle to put AI data centers in space

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Artificial intelligence might turn the world’s most valuable private company into one of the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies in 2026. This, of course, is about Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, which he believes can become an AI player after essentially inventing the modern space business and creating the first killer space application, satellite broadband, enabled by lower launch costs.

SpaceX has had quite a month. Its private market valuation recently hit $800 billion, based on reports of a secondary sale that provided insiders with some liquidity, making it more valuable than OpenAI or TikTok parent ByteDance. SpaceX didn’t respond to Barron’s request to comment on its valuation.

Then Musk all but confirmed plans for a 2026 IPO at a rumored $1.5 trillion valuation. His rocket company, however, is profitable, according to Musk, and doesn’t have a pressing need for cash. Why bother with an IPO then? There is a new killer application that SpaceX can dominate if it moves quickly.

AI data centers in space. That’s right, it sounds like science fiction, but AI computers in orbit powered by the sun might be a lower-cost way of getting answers from chatbots or training cars to drive themselves. Speed is of the essence.

OpenAI, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Alphabet are looking at ways to do the same thing, wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu in a Monday report. (There’s nothing like an arms race to motivate Wall Street.) SpaceX, however, is holding a pair of aces. For starters, it is a near-monopoly provider of space launch services.