Starlink supports – As SpaceX prepares to debut on Nasdaq on June 12, ARK Invest’s chief futurist Brett Winton argues the valuation rests less on rockets and more on Starlink—citing the satellite network’s scale, revenue, and the growth boost expected from Starship. SpaceX plans
The numbers are already set for the moment SpaceX is finally dragged into public markets—$135 a share. a debut on Nasdaq on June 12. and a valuation hovering near $2 trillion. But the argument ARK Invest is making right now is pointed and personal: the rocket is only the headline. Starlink is the engine.
On Thursday. Brett Winton. chief futurist at ARK Invest. said it doesn’t surprise him that SpaceX is targeting a valuation “in excess of and close to $2 trillion.” The satellite internet business. he argued. can carry that figure on its own. “The AI opportunity is ginormous. ” Winton added. tying SpaceX’s long-term upside to the way artificial intelligence is spreading and demanding more connectivity.
SpaceX, for its part, has set the IPO at $135 a share. That price values the company at roughly $1.77 trillion ahead of its planned Nasdaq debut on June 12. The sale includes 555.6 million shares, which would raise $75 billion. Underwriters also have an option to buy an additional 83.33 million shares at the same IPO price. adding $11.2 billion to the potential total. After the offering, Elon Musk will own over 82% voting control.
Winton’s focus stays on what happens after the launch. He said SpaceX’s growth prospects extend far beyond launch services and are closely tied to the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence. ARK estimates that companies developing and operating foundation AI models could collectively generate between $15 trillion and $20 trillion in enterprise value by 2030.
He went further than describing a business—he framed it as a turning point. “I think this historical moment is going to be looked back upon as the critical technological inflection, maybe in the history of humanity,” Winton said.
That conviction matters in practical terms for ARK itself. ARK is already heavily exposed to SpaceX through its venture strategy. with the ARK Venture Fund’s largest holding being private shares of SpaceX. Those private shares represented about 11.4% of assets. The fund has gained roughly 15% this year and more than 70% over the past 12 months.
While many investors have centered their excitement on reusable rockets. Winton says the primary driver of ARK’s valuation thesis is Starlink. He described Starlink as currently operating a constellation capable of delivering roughly 500 terabits per second of bandwidth and generating about $13 billion in annual revenue.
Then comes Starship. Winton said the upcoming Starship rocket could accelerate Starlink’s growth by reducing launch costs and allowing SpaceX to deploy far more satellites at a faster pace. He said. “With each Starship rocket. they can launch 60 terabits a second. ” and that “Ten launches can duplicate their existing capacity in space….It’s not like you only get 10 launches and the opportunity expires.” His point was about scale over time. not a single sprint—he believes SpaceX can keep expanding.
Winton said ARK’s view is that SpaceX can do hundreds of launches and reach “hundreds of billions of dollars of Starlink revenue.”
For investors staring at this IPO—at $135 a share. at the promised $75 billion fundraise. at Musk’s over 82% voting control—the tension is clear. The public story is about SpaceX as a rocket company making its long-awaited entrance. But ARK’s internal story. delivered in the language of bandwidth. deployments. and AI-driven demand. is that Starlink alone is where the math lands close to $2 trillion.
SpaceX’s Nasdaq debut on June 12 is still ahead. Yet the debate around what the market is truly buying is already underway: whether the valuation is anchored in rocket innovation—or in a satellite internet network built for an AI era that keeps scaling.
SpaceX IPO ARK Invest Brett Winton Starlink Starship Nasdaq $135 IPO price valuation AI opportunity Musk voting control