NEW YORK — Elon Musk’s SpaceX has surpassed Amazon to become the world’s fifth most valuable company, following a dramatic surge in its share price just days after its historic stock market debut.
The rocket and space technology company is now valued at approximately $2.78 trillion (£2.1 trillion), overtaking Amazon’s market capitalization of around $2.66 trillion. The milestone comes after SpaceX shares climbed more than 50% since the company completed the largest public listing in history on New York’s technology-focused Nasdaq exchange.
Investor enthusiasm has been fueled by SpaceX’s ambitious plans for the future, including deploying artificial intelligence-powered data centres in space and advancing long-term efforts to establish human settlements on Mars.
The company’s initial public offering raised $85.7 billion and helped cement Musk’s status as the world’s first trillionaire. Since debuting at $135 per share on Friday, SpaceX stock has soared to $209.
The latest boost to the company’s valuation came after SpaceX announced a $60 billion acquisition of AI coding start-up Cursor. The deal will see SpaceX acquire Anysphere, Cursor’s parent company, bringing one of the fastest-growing artificial intelligence coding platforms under Musk’s expanding technology empire.
Cursor develops AI-powered software that automates computer programming tasks, a rapidly growing segment of the artificial intelligence industry. The company has attracted major corporate customers, including Stripe, Adobe and Nvidia.
SpaceX and Cursor have worked together since April, when the aerospace company secured the option to either acquire the start-up for $60 billion or pay $10 billion for technology developed through their partnership.
Announcing the acquisition, SpaceX said the combination of Cursor’s software engineering tools and the company’s powerful AI infrastructure would accelerate the development of advanced AI systems.
The move is also expected to strengthen SpaceX’s position in the increasingly competitive AI market, where its subsidiary xAI is seeking to challenge rivals through products such as the Grok chatbot.
Despite its soaring valuation, some analysts have questioned whether SpaceX’s share price accurately reflects the company’s current financial performance.
While Amazon remains one of the world’s most profitable corporations, generating $30.3 billion in profit during the first quarter of 2026, SpaceX reported a loss of $4.3 billion over the same period. The gap is equally significant in terms of revenue, with Amazon recording $716.9 billion in sales during 2025 compared with SpaceX’s $18.67 billion.
Market analysts say investors are valuing SpaceX largely on its future potential rather than its current earnings.
Venture capitalist Eileen Burbidge said many investors appear to be buying into Musk’s long-term vision and the company’s growth prospects rather than focusing on traditional financial metrics.
“The market is pricing in what investors believe SpaceX could become rather than what it is today,” she said.
Some experts have also warned that the company’s stock price may be benefiting from a limited supply of shares available for trading. Only about 4% of SpaceX’s shares are currently freely traded on public markets, creating additional upward pressure on the stock.
Dan Sheehan, an analyst at Telos Wealth Advisors, cautioned that retail investors could face risks if major institutional shareholders decide to sell stakes in the future, potentially diluting the value of publicly traded shares.
The acquisition of Cursor is expected to be completed by the end of September, with the start-up’s shareholders receiving $60 billion worth of SpaceX stock as part of the transaction.
For now, investor confidence in Musk’s vision of combining space exploration, satellite communications and artificial intelligence continues to drive SpaceX’s rapid rise up the rankings of the world’s most valuable companies.
