Cathie Wood Calls SpaceX IPO Demand ‘Voracious’ Ahead Of $1.75T Debut

SpaceX is asking Wall Street for $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation, and Cathie Wood thinks the offering is already too small. Speaking on Bloomberg’s Bloomberg Talks podcast on May 6 from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, the ARK Invest founder predicted a “voracious” appetite for what would be the largest IPO in history, while warning the debut itself will be “volatile.” Her firm’s $1.75 trillion model, published on April 21, deliberately leaves out the line item Wood believes could lift SpaceX revenue 10 to 20 times beyond current estimates.

That gap matters because the demand is not theoretical. SpaceX is already the single largest position in ARK Venture Fund’s official holdings page, sitting at 17.02% of net assets as of March 31. The fund has crossed $850 million in size, and Wood said retail buyers chasing pre-IPO Elon Musk exposure are the reason.

The pitch lands one day after Musk dissolved his AI company entirely and folded its products into the very firm he is taking public.

What Wood Actually Said About The Demand

Wood’s word for the order book was “voracious.” She used it twice in the Bloomberg sit-down with Carol Massar and Joe Mathieu, and she repeated it when describing the inflows ARK Venture has absorbed from investors hunting for a sliver of SpaceX before it lists.

Only $75 billion. Yes, it’s a big IPO, but just think about how SpaceX has reawakened the dream of space exploration.

That framing matters for anyone trying to model the first day of trading. A $75 billion raise is roughly 2.5 times Saudi Aramco’s final $29.4 billion proceeds, the current record. Wood’s argument is that the float is still too thin against the demand pool, which she said includes institutional buyers who cannot get pre-IPO secondary access and retail buyers who route through her venture fund as a workaround.

Her conclusion was unambiguous. “In the beginning, there will be a supply-demand imbalance,” she said, “and it will be a volatile IPO.” Translation in plain English: expect a pop, then turbulence.

Inside ARK’s $1.75 Trillion Number

The April 21 ARK report, available on ARK’s official SpaceX IPO guide, builds the headline figure on three pillars rather than one cash-flow model. The structure is unusual for a pre-IPO valuation because two of the three pillars are revenue lines that barely exist on the income statement today.

Here is how the components stack up against where SpaceX actually earns money in 2026:

Starlink is the cash engine. SpaceX confirmed it crossed 10 million active subscribers in February 2026, up from 9 million in December 2025 and 4 million in September 2024. Quilty Space projects 2026 revenue at $20 billion with EBITDA near $14 billion, a margin profile that rivals top-tier telecom but at four times the growth rate.

The Number Wood Says Her Own Model Is Missing

The most interesting line in Wood’s Bloomberg appearance was a confession. ARK’s $1.75 trillion case does not include orbital data centers at all, and Wood believes that omission could be a 10x to 20x understatement of long-term SpaceX revenue.

“We have not added data centers, orbital data centers in,” Wood said. “However, our preliminary work suggests that that part of the business could take SpaceX from a revenue generation point of view, orders of magnitude higher. Ten, 20 times higher.”

Her supporting argument was geographic, not technical. Wood pointed to Memphis, Tennessee, where Musk’s existing Colossus 1 supercomputer cluster of more than 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs has triggered local complaints about electricity prices and land use. Space removes the political problem entirely. Solar power is constant. Cooling is free in vacuum. There are no neighbors to push back. If the technology works, SpaceX has a path to compute capacity that no terrestrial data center operator can replicate at any price.

The xAI Dissolution Changes What Investors Are Buying

The day before Wood’s podcast taping, Musk posted on X that he was dissolving xAI as a separate company and consolidating all of its products under SpaceX as “SpaceXAI.” The post is on his verified account from May 5.

This was not a small reshuffle. Every one of xAI’s 11 original co-founders had left by March 28, leaving Musk as the sole founder. He acknowledged the failure publicly, saying xAI “was not built right first time around.” Hours before the dissolution announcement, SpaceX revealed a compute-sharing deal with Anthropic, granting one of Musk’s longest-running rivals access to over 300 megawatts of Colossus 1 capacity to expand Claude Pro and Claude Max usage limits.

Anthropic’s news page notes the partnership also covers exploratory work on orbital data centers and multi-gigawatt AI computing. That is the connective tissue Wood was pointing at. SpaceX is no longer just a rocket company that owns a satellite ISP. It is the substrate underneath one of the world’s leading AI labs, with a stake in the next layer of compute infrastructure.

For IPO buyers, the practical effect is this: the company that lists in late June carries an AI division consuming roughly $1 billion per month in infrastructure and training costs, against a launch business and a cash-positive Starlink. The S-1 will need to explain that asymmetry.

The all-stock xAI merger that closed in February valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion. The current $1.75 trillion target represents a $500 billion repricing in roughly three months, before any business has changed.

Why Tesla Sits Inside The Same Argument

Wood spent a meaningful portion of the podcast on Tesla rather than SpaceX, and the bridge was vertical integration. Her argument: the same operational philosophy that lets SpaceX cut launch costs 95% since 2008 is what gives Tesla its robotaxi cost edge over Alphabet’s Waymo.

The numbers from ARK Invest’s Cybercab research put hard figures on the gap:

Wood’s read is that Waymo’s reliance on outside automakers and expensive sensors locks in a structural cost penalty that compounds over millions of miles. Tesla holds 11,509 Bitcoin on the balance sheet alongside its auto operations, and its 10-Q filings on SEC EDGAR show the holding has been intact across recent quarters. ARK believes robotaxis will represent close to 90% of Tesla’s enterprise value by 2029.

Tether’s USAT Gets A Wood Endorsement

Wood used the same podcast to weigh in on stablecoins, and her line on Tether’s USAT was that it “has a shot.” Coming from someone who runs the largest non-Tether stablecoin advocate fund family on Wall Street, that is not a casual remark.

USAT launched on January 27, 2026 through Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered crypto bank, with Cantor Fitzgerald serving as reserve custodian and primary dealer. Tether’s official launch announcement confirms the structure: Anchorage handles minting, burning and redemption; Cantor handles reserves; Tether contributes brand, distribution and engineering. Bo Hines, former executive director of the White House Crypto Council, runs the new entity as CEO.

The token is the first stablecoin built specifically inside the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act. The GENIUS Act text on Congress.gov requires 100% reserves in cash or short-duration Treasuries, monthly attestations and Bank Secrecy Act compliance. USAT begins with a $10 million initial supply on Ethereum and has since expanded to Celo. Solana support is targeted by year-end.

The Retail Slice Is The Real Story

Buried inside the IPO mechanics is a number that has not gotten the attention it deserves. SpaceX is reserving up to 30% of the offering for retail investors, against a typical 5% to 10%. CFO Bret Johnsen told a virtual analyst meeting that retail will be a “bigger part than any IPO in history,” per Reuters reporting on the April analyst session.

The mechanics of the rollout, taken from public reporting on SpaceX’s bank syndicate and roadshow plans:

1. Week of June 8: roadshow begins, executives pitch to institutions across multiple cities.
2. June 7: approximately 125 analysts from the 21 banks on the deal meet SpaceX leadership.
3. June 11: SpaceX hosts an investor event for around 1,500 retail buyers.
4. Late June or early July: trading debut targeted on Nasdaq.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan are the active bookrunners, with 16 additional banks in supporting roles spanning institutional, retail and international channels. Retail allocations will extend beyond the United States to the United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea.

One detail flattens any narrative about retail control. The S-1 confirms a dual-class structure that leaves Musk holding roughly 42% of equity and 79% of voting power through super-voting shares. Retail gets the upside and the downside. It does not get a say.

The Stats That Frame The Bet

• $1.75 trillion: ARK Invest’s April 21 SpaceX valuation, deliberately excluding orbital data centers.
• 10 to 20 times: Wood’s preliminary estimate of the revenue uplift if orbital data centers are added to the model.
• 10 million: Starlink subscribers as of February 2026, up from 1 million in December 2022.
• 95%: reduction in SpaceX launch costs since 2008, per ARK’s research.
• 17.02%: SpaceX’s share of ARK Venture Fund’s net assets at March 31, 2026.
• 30%: share of the SpaceX IPO reserved for retail buyers, three to six times the normal allocation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Can A Regular Investor Buy SpaceX Before The IPO?

The most direct route today is ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX), which holds SpaceX as 17.02% of net assets and accepts retail subscriptions through brokerages including Fidelity and Schwab. Baron Partners Fund holds an even larger 33% SpaceX position. Both are mutual fund vehicles with daily NAV. Pre-IPO secondary platforms like EquityZen or Forge Global require accredited investor status and minimums above $25,000.

When Does SpaceX Actually Start Trading?

SpaceX is targeting late June or early July 2026 on Nasdaq. The roadshow begins the week of June 8, with a retail investor event on June 11. The S-1 must be made public at least 15 days before the roadshow opens, so expect the full prospectus by roughly May 24. Watch the SEC EDGAR system for the public filing once the confidential review concludes.

Will SpaceX Stock Be Volatile On Day One?

Wood predicted exactly that, calling the listing a “volatile” debut driven by a supply-demand imbalance. Mega-cap IPOs historically underperform the S&P 500 in their first 12 months, with most large IPOs experiencing post-listing declines. If you are buying for a long hold, waiting 60 to 90 days for the lockup chatter to settle has historically been the lower-risk entry path.

What Happens To Grok And xAI After The Merger?

Grok continues development under the SpaceXAI umbrella, with major compute shifting toward a planned Colossus 2 cluster. The xAI brand and corporate entity disappear, but the products remain live. Anthropic now rents over 300 megawatts of Colossus 1 capacity. SpaceX retains a clause to reclaim compute if Anthropic systems “engage in actions that harm humanity,” per Musk’s public statement.

Is The $1.75 Trillion Valuation Realistic?

It values SpaceX at roughly 95 times trailing revenue, which has no public-market comparable at that scale. Skeptics argue $1.5 trillion is the more defensible target. Wood’s counter-argument is that orbital data centers, not yet in any model, could justify the premium and then some. The S-1 disclosures will matter more than any pre-IPO model when retail money actually has to commit.

How Much Voting Power Will Public Shareholders Have?

Effectively none on big decisions. The dual-class structure gives Musk roughly 79% of voting power against approximately 42% economic ownership. Public shareholders own the cash-flow rights and price exposure. Strategic control, including the ability to remove Musk, sits with Musk himself. Read the S-1 governance section carefully before sizing any position.

The Bloomberg sit-down doubled as Wood’s pitch deck for the only Musk company she can already sell investors. Her math says the official ARK valuation undercounts what SpaceX will become. Whether the public market agrees in late June will set the terms for every Musk financing event that follows.

Disclaimer: This article reports on analyst opinions, IPO mechanics and pre-listing financial commentary. It does not constitute investment advice. IPO investments, particularly mega-cap debuts, carry substantial risk including the potential for significant losses, lockup-related volatility and dual-class governance limitations. Readers should consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decision. All valuations, allocations and timeline figures are accurate as of publication on May 9, 2026 and are subject to change as the SpaceX S-1 becomes public.