Factbox: Mega IPOs in focus after Musk's SpaceX acquires xAI

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03/02/2026 12:51

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX has acquired his artificial intelligence startup xAI in a deal that unifies the billionaire's AI and space ambitions by combining the rocket-and-satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot.

The deal, which reportedly values SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion, comes as the rocket company plans a blockbuster initial public offering this year that could take place as soon as June, Reuters has reported.

If xAI raises more than $25.6 billion, it would eclipse the world's largest IPO to date, which was oil major Saudi Aramco's 2223.SE listing in 2019.

Analysts expect the potential landmark listing to reinvigorate the IPO market and push more high-profile private startups such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI and rival Anthropic to the public markets, ending a years-long downturn.

Here is an overview of the biggest IPOs globally, ranked by deal size:

Company
Offer date
Sector
Deal size
Saudi Aramco 2223.SE
12/05/19
Energy
$25.6 billion
Alibaba 9988.HK
09/18/14
Technology
$21.8 billion
SoftBank Corp 9984.T
12/10/18
Communication Services
$21.3 billion
NTT Mobile 9432.T
10/22/98
Communication Services
$18.1 billion
Visa V.N
03/18/08
Financials
$17.9 billion
AIA 1299.HK
10/21/10
Financials
$17.8 billion
ENEL SpA ENEI.MI
11/01/99
Utilities
$16.5 billion
Meta META.O
05/17/12
Technology
$16 billion
General Motors GM.N
11/17/10
Consumer Discretionary
$15.8 billion
ICBC - H 1398.HK
10/20/06
Financials
$13.96 billion

 Source: Renaissance Capital

 (Compiled by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

 ((Manya.Saini@thomsonreuters.com; X: manya__saini;))