The most significant trend of 2026 isn’t just AI or just space—it’s the merger of the two.

SpaceX + xAI: The $1.25 Trillion Megamerger

In February 2026, Elon Musk confirmed the merger of SpaceX and xAI, creating a vertically integrated behemoth valued at $1.25 trillion. The new entity combines:

SpaceX’s rocket launch business and Starlink satellite network

xAI’s Grok chatbot and foundational AI models

X (Twitter) social platform for real‑time data

Musk called it “the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on Earth (and beyond)”.

The IPO That Could Break Records

SpaceX has already filed confidentially for its U.S. listing and is targeting a June 2026 debut. The IPO could raise $75 billion at a valuation between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion.

If successful, it would be the largest IPO in history—by an extraordinary margin. For context, the current record holder is Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion offering in 2019.

Analysts estimate SpaceX‘s launch and Starlink revenue will approach $200 billion in 2026, while xAI’s revenue remains modest (under $10 billion). The valuation, therefore, is a bet on the “Space AI” thesis: orbital data centers, AI‑powered satellite constellations, and interplanetary intelligence.

Orbital AI Startups Join the Unicorn Club

The SpaceX‑xAI merger has supercharged investor interest in “space compute” startups.

Starcloud, a Seattle‑based startup building solar‑powered data centers in orbit, raised $170 million in Series A at a $1.1 billion valuation in March 2026. It achieved unicorn status just 17 months after its Y Combinator demo day—the fastest in YC history. The company is already deploying Nvidia H100 GPUs in orbit for AI inference workloads.

Other verticals seeing unicorn activity:

In‑space manufacturing: Companies printing satellite components and pharmaceuticals in zero‑gravity

Space debris removal: Valued at $15 billion by 2030, with several startups nearing unicorn status

Lunar logistics: With NASA’s Artemis program accelerating, lunar delivery startups are attracting billion‑dollar valuations