April 1 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s SpaceX has moved closer to going public with its confidential filing, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, as the billionaire’s rocket-and-satellite company looks to beat OpenAI and Anthropic to the new listings market.
Wall Street is betting that 2026 could be a breakout year for the U.S. IPO market, underpinned by a strong pipeline of high-profile private companies and pent-up demand for new listings.
Goldman Sachs earlier this year predicted that proceeds from U.S. IPOs could vault to a record $160 billion in 2026, should the marquee names go public this year.
But risks linger, as geopolitical uncertainty and ongoing structural disruptions have become a persistent feature in the landscape, stoking higher volatility across equities.
Here is an overview of some of the mega IPOs expected in 2026:
SPACEX
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has confidentially filed for its hotly anticipated U.S. initial public offering, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, laying the groundwork for what could be the biggest stock market flotation ever.
In February, SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup xAI in a record-setting deal, unifying the billionaire’s AI and space ambitions by combining the rocket-and-satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot.
If SpaceX raises more than $25.6 billion, it would be the world’s largest IPO, eclipsing oil major Saudi Aramco’s listing in 2019.
OPENAI
OpenAI was laying the groundwork for an IPO that could value it at up to $1 trillion, with the ChatGPT maker considering filing with securities regulators as soon as the second half of 2026, Reuters reported last year.
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer had said at the time an IPO was not in the company’s near-term plans.
ANTHROPIC
Claude-maker Anthropic hired law firm Wilson Sonsini to prepare for an IPO that could take place as early as 2026, the Financial Times reported in December.
An Anthropic spokesperson told Reuters at the time the company had not decided when or whether it will go public.
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shinjini Ganguli)
Comments