The AI IPO race

Link copied by Julia Shapero - 05/26/26 5:26 PM ET Link copied Three of the world s leading AI companies are racing to go public, opening yet another front in the high-stakes competition over the technology. SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are all expected to make their stock market debut with hefty valuations, as investors are eager to get in on the companies at the heart of the AI boom that have previously been locked up in private markets. It marks the latest stage in an AI race that shows no sign of slowing, as Elon Musk s rocket company and the two AI upstarts seek to join more well-established tech giants on public markets and gain access to additional funding — a key benefit for companies seeking vast amounts of costly computing power. These companies need money, David Foster, a clinical professor of finance at the University of San Diego s Knauss School of Business, told The Hill. They re all trying to build out AI infrastructure, their servers, their data centers, power centers, all that stuff. They re all trying to build all that stuff out at once, so it s big dollars, he said. But as private companies, they just don t have the resources to be able to spend that money, Foster added. So that s one of the biggest issues, is they have to come public to go after big equity dollars to be able to spend the money just to keep up with the race. SpaceX is the first on deck. The company, which merged with Musk s xAI earlier this year, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) and is reportedly eyeing a record-breaking $1.75 trillion valuation and a mid-June debut. On Wednesday, it publicly filed its preliminary prospectus, offering investors the first glimpse into the firm s underlying finances. The document shows SpaceX posted a $4.28 billion loss in the first three months of 2026, despite raking in $4.69 billion in revenue. For the full year in 2025, the company brought in $18.67 billion but ultimately faced a loss of $4.94 billion. SpaceX, which was founded in 2002, has made a name for itself as a leading rocket launch provider and a satellite internet provider via its Starlink business. But with the xAI merger, Musk has sought to shift the company into an AI play as well, pointing to the prospect of data centers in space. Check out the full report at TheHill.com. Welcome to The Hill s Technology newsletter, we reJulia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future: GOP senators press intelligence officials to assess China AI capabilities Sens. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) are pressing top intelligence officials to focus their efforts on assessing China s AI capabilities in the face of new advancements in the technology. In a letter shared first with The Hill, the pair wrote to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross and National Security Agency Director Joshua Rudd on … Vice President Vance on Tuesday said that Pope Leo XIV s warnings on the risks of AI were profound. The Vatican published the pontiff s first encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas, on Monday. In the 42,000-word letter, the first American pope urged policymakers to address the widespread availability of AI with clarity to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects … Who qualifies for $135M Android settlement? (NEXSTAR) – An estimated 100 million people may qualify for a class action lawsuit against Google. Google, while denying any wrongdoing, previously agreed to the settlement in a lawsuit that accused the company of causing Android mobile devices to send a variety of information to the internet giant without the users permission. This, the lawsuit alleges, consumed the cellular data on those devices. A similar … Pope Leo encyclical: World leaders should be slowing things down on AI Pope Leo XIV on Monday warned about the risks posed by AI in his first encyclical. In the encyclical, titled Magnifica Humanitas, the pontiff wrote that policymakers must address the widespread availability of the emerging technology with clarity to establish adequate regulatory tools capable of upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power. Throughout his papacy, the first American … News we ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: Crypto group pushes back on Warren OCC criticism The Digital Chamber is coming to the defense of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) accused the regulator of approving bank charters for seemingly ineligible companies. In a letter to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould on Tuesday, the crypto trade association voiced support for the OCC s recent approvals of national trust bank chart

The AI IPO race

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