Readers discuss how investor confidence in commercial space could benefit China, the US-Iran interim peace agreement, Japan’s 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in the Fifa World Cup, and the musical legacy of Anders Nelsson
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largest initial public offeringever recorded. Priced at US$135 per share and closing its first day at
roughly US$161, the company raised US$75 billion and achieved a market capitalisation exceeding US$2.1 trillion – surpassing the gross domestic product of South Korea in a single trading session. While headlines celebrated the world’s biggest IPO, the listing’s true significance lies not in rockets, but in AI infrastructure.
formally mergedwith Musk’s xAI: Musk’s objective is not merely space travel, but space AI.
c annot support the exponential growth of AI data centres. Musk’s proposed solution is to
deploymassive computing infrastructure into low-Earth orbit. Orbital data centres would harness continuous solar energy, exploit the natural vacuum of space for thermal cooling, and utilise the existing Starlink constellation for communication.
SpaceX has become a vertically integrated monopoly spanning space transport, global broadband and AI compute infrastructure. If Musk’s orbital AI network reaches scale, global AI companies could face an insurmountable cost disadvantage.
China is not standing still. However, without reusable rockets comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, the cost to orbit remains much higher, and state-owned launch schedules are saturated with national priorities. Consequently, China’s path to orbital AI depends on the maturation of its private commercial space sector.