SpaceX 's ambitions may be intergalactic, to "build the systems and technologies necessary to make multiplanetary life possible." Currently, however, it is an absolutely mundane product that funds the company's extraordinary ambitions, which is about to carry out the largest IPO in history: Starlink .
While the rocket and artificial intelligence (AI) units still consume resources, the telecommunications satellite network generates revenue and profit, with the sale of Wi-Fi being fundamental to enabling the continuation of plans to colonize Mars and win the AI race.
SpaceX's preliminary IPO prospectus, made public on Wednesday, May 20, shows that the company's connectivity unit, essentially comprised of Starlink, is projected to generate $11.4 billion in revenue, $4.4 billion in operating profit, and $7.1 billion in adjusted EBITDA by 2025. This represents annual growth of 49.8%, 120.4%, and 86.2%, respectively.
SpaceX as a whole posted a loss of $4.9 billion last year, reversing a profit of $791 million in 2024. The company's revenue, on the same basis of comparison, grew 33% to $18.6 billion.
A significant portion of the losses are related to AI, following the acquisition of xAI . In the initial stages, the unit recorded an operating loss of US$6.3 billion, given the size of the investments required to develop and scale the technology.
The space activities division, responsible for rocket launches, closed 2025 with revenue of US$4.1 billion, up 7.6%, an operating loss of US$657 million, reversing the profit of the previous year, and adjusted EBITDA of US$653 million, a decrease of 43.4%.
Starlink has long been seen as the foundation for SpaceX's growth. Founded in 2002, SpaceX was essentially a space transportation company that charged governments and private companies to send cargo into orbit. But that wouldn't fund civilization on another planet, so Musk set out to explore other spaces.
In 2015, Musk created Starlink, which began offering services to customers in 2020. Despite not having the same glamour as space exploration, Musk told his biographer Walter Isaacson that the internet market is so large that capturing even a small percentage would generate revenue exceeding NASA 's entire budget.
After successfully making the operation profitable by developing smaller and cheaper satellites, overcoming barriers that led other companies to bankruptcy, Starlink became a benchmark in the market. Currently, the company has more than 9,600 satellites in low Earth orbit and 10.3 million subscribers in 164 countries.
In Brazil, the company has been growing strongly. Data from the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) indicates that the number of subscriptions to the service reached 704,800 by March of this year, representing a market share of 1.3%, placing the company 14th in the ranking of broadband internet subscribers in the country.
In 2025, the company closed with 606,100 subscriptions, while in 2024 there were 326,800, according to the local authority.
Despite the results, Starlink loses out to AI when it comes to the future. According to SpaceX's IPO prospectus, out of an addressable market of around US$28.5 trillion, the largest ever seen in human history, AI accounts for the majority of the value, with a market estimated at US$26.5 trillion.
The connectivity sector comes next, with US$1.6 trillion, while space operations have an estimated market of US$370 billion.
