Shares of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. jumped sharply upon their debut on the US market after the global leader in aerospace technology completed its highly anticipated initial public offering, becoming one of the biggest financial stories of the year.

SpaceX shares closed their first trading day at $160.95, which is roughly 19% above their IPO price, which was set at $135 per share.

The company’s recent stock price of $201.80 gave aerospace giant SpaceX a market valuation of approximately $2.6 trillion, representing an nearly 50% increase from its initial listing value. The rapid rally was driven by the company’s dominant position, controlling 82% of the US commercial launch market, and the steady growth of its Starlink satellite business.

SpaceX overcame the barrier to the public market, but the company now faces high execution risks. Despite Starlink’s profitability, the massive rollout of AI infrastructure, including a major contract with Anthropic, led to a net loss of $4.9 billion for 2025 and an increase in debt load to $29.1 billion, which will force investors to more carefully evaluate the sustainability of the stock’s future growth.