NEW YORK – When SpaceX starts trading this week, one group will be noticeably absent from the frenzy: investors from China and Hong Kong. They are also likely to miss out on the upcoming initial public offering (IPO) for OpenAI. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket maker and artificial intelligence company, has excluded investors in China and Hong Kong from participating in its IPO, according to five people with knowledge of the decision. OpenAI, another leading AI company, is likely to impose the same restriction when it
goes public in 2026, said three people with knowledge of the discussion. The company has already barred Chinese investors from participating in private fundraising rounds, one of those people said. The AI companies have not disclosed why they are hesitant to accept investments from the region, and it’s unclear whether the move is being made with input from the Trump administration. But Washington has been focused on keeping AI out of China’s reach. Both companies count the U.S. government as major clients. While Chinese investors
have largely been shut out of private investments in sensitive sectors for years, this is most likely the first time investors in mainland China and Hong Kong have been excluded from a major US IPO, bankers in the region say. It highlights how the United States and China have steadily scaled back trade, investment and collaboration – especially in sensitive sectors involving technology and science. “The restrictions reflect a broader trend among American technology and AI companies, many of which have become increasingly reluctant to
accept Chinese investment, driven by concerns over national security, intellectual property protection and data governance,” said Han Lin, a director for the Asia Group, a consulting firm, and a former senior Wells Fargo banker in China. As recently as May, investors from mainland China and Hong Kong were allowed to participate in the blockbuster IPO of Cerebras, a US maker of chips used to train AI models. But Washington and Beijing have been rapidly erecting barriers to trade and investment, complicating matters for investors and
the banks that help facilitate cross-border deals. Last week, China tightened restrictions on the flow of money out of the country and announced plans to screen companies seeking to expand overseas, blocking plans for companies deemed strategically important. Several weeks earlier, the House Select Committee on China accused JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley of failing to conduct adequate due diligence when helping Chinese companies go public. Staying on the right side of the US government is especially important for SpaceX and OpenAI.
It is SpaceX’s biggest customer, accounting for roughly US$4 billion (S$5.1 billion) in revenue in 2025. In 2026, OpenAI announced that it would provide AI technologies for the Defense Department’s classified systems. China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has used industrial policy to strengthen his country’s control over critical supply chains and industries, part of a broader push for self-reliance that Beijing views as a national security imperative. The policies have strengthened China’s dominance in global trade and heightened tensions with the United States. During his
first term, President Donald Trump used tariffs and other measures to pressure companies to move manufacturing out of China. The Biden administration expanded those efforts, restricting US investment in Chinese quantum computing, semiconductors and AI in an effort to slow China’s technological advances. Washington also reviews foreign investments and acquisitions in sensitive sectors through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Pentagon maintains a blacklist of companies that it says support China’s military, including major technology companies such as Tencent, Alibaba and
Baidu, as well as the electric vehicle maker BYD. China has responded by building its own web of export controls and investment restrictions, measures that US and European companies say have made it increasingly difficult to do business in China. But any moves by SpaceX and OpenAI appear to be voluntary, said Aaron Bartnick, who was a White House tech policy official during the Biden administration. “This is a very clear sign of not just the trade decoupling but also the technology and capital decoupling
that is occurring between the US and China,” he said. Bartnick, who oversaw policy on CFIUS and outbound investment controls, said the decisions by leading technology companies could become a template for the industry. He said he would not be surprised if others followed suit, including Anthropic, which announced its plans to go public last week. “It is tempting to label this an overreaction because it appears to be voluntary,” Bartnick said. “But a lot of American companies will look to companies like OpenAI, Anthropic
and SpaceX as leaders.” NYTIMES
SpaceX IPO, OpenAI IPO 2026, China investors shut out, Hong Kong investors, U.S.-China tech decoupling, national security investment restrictions, CFIUS, outbound investment controls, Han Lin, Aaron Bartnick