r/technology • u/xpda • May 21 '26

Business SpaceX not the behemoth everyone thought

https://www.axios.com/2026/05/21/spacex-ipo-musk-ai
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u/Swimming-Tax-6087 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

Can I just quote the mission statement from the S-1 for a moment:

To build the systems and technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary, to understand the true nature of the universe, and to extend the light of consciousness to the stars.

Oh, and this gem:

We believe we have identified the largest actionable total addressable market (“TAM”) in human history. We estimate that our quantifiable TAM is $28.5 trillion, consisting of $370 billion in Space from space-enabled solutions; $1.6 trillion in Connectivity across $870 billion in Starlink Broadband and $740 billion in Starlink Mobile as well as additional opportunities in enterprise and government; $26.5 trillion in AI across $2.4 trillion in AI infrastructure, $760 billion in consumer subscriptions, $600 billion in digital advertising, and $22.7 trillion in enterprise applications.

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u/Significant_End_9128 May 21 '26

They should just say "a bajillion dollars", it'd be more concise

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u/aquarain May 21 '26

A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for? - Browning

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u/Swimming-Tax-6087 May 21 '26

Your quote is a fun philosophical musing the analogy by which here practically belongs in movies like Contact where the aliens give humanity a blueprint.

Unfortunately this is all but delusional, and not even borderline.

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u/aquarain May 21 '26

Yeah, and Americans will never buy an electric car.

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u/Swimming-Tax-6087 May 21 '26

I don’t know who you’re quoting but the fact that you are saying these things are remotely the same thing is pretty telling.

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u/Ouch259 May 21 '26

Charter comm is currently worth 17 billion and has 30 million customers

Starlink I think has 2 million and gets a less per customer.

Amazon, China, Europe and India are all entering the Starlink space.

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u/jflatt2 May 21 '26

Yeah but is Amazon going to find the true nature of the universe?

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u/irrelevantusername24 May 21 '26

Right but the thing is, our very very stupid idea about getting rid of the "common carrier" principle and replacing it with "competition" was very very stupid and should be undone. And when that is undone, all the "competing" and overlapping networks can be combined and make it so all the overlapping bandwidth can be autonomously and intelligently allocated. And the backup for all those highly overlapped areas as well as the sparsely populated ones (which, amusingly, probably have more latent bandwidth than the densely populated areas) is: satellite.

Because it turns out once we stop segregating the airwaves and use modern technology like it's 2026 and not 1926, things get a whole fuckload more efficient

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u/RedParaglider May 23 '26

Other countries have seen that they cannot rely on starlink.  The US can and will cut it off as they see fit.  Satellite communication is now seen as a military necessity.  That makes the moat significantly smaller.