Talk of three huge AI IPOs is still speculation as companies stay private

In short: Some commentators are talking about SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic as potential record-setting stock market debuts, but all three companies are still private and have not listed.

What's going on

A recent discussion highlighted a possible “race” to bring three big AI-linked companies to the stock market: SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic. An IPO, or initial public offering, is when a private company starts selling shares to the public for the first time (like opening a previously members-only club to anyone who wants to buy a ticket).

In that conversation, SpaceX was described as preparing an IPO at a $1.8 trillion valuation, with about 555.6 million shares priced at $135 each. Morningstar was cited as putting SpaceX’s value closer to $780 billion. The same segment also said the three companies together lost $25 billion last year, pointing out that some of the most talked-about AI players are not currently making money.

What matters for “biggest IPO” claims is what has actually happened so far. The largest IPOs ever by money raised are still Saudi Aramco in 2019 at about $25.6 billion, Alibaba in 2014 at about $21.7 billion, and SoftBank Corp in 2018 at about $21.3 billion. By comparison, the biggest IPO of 2026 so far, according to Renaissance Capital data cited in the reporting, was Cerebras Systems at about $5.55 billion.

What to watch

If SpaceX, OpenAI, or Anthropic do file for IPOs, watch two numbers: how much cash they raise by selling shares, and what the company is valued at on day one. Those figures will determine whether they truly beat past records, or remain big expectations that never turn into record-breaking listings.

Source: NYTimes