Elon Musk wants SpaceX to go public. Here’s how it works

Hundreds of companies raised a combined $70 billion by selling shares to the public in the United States last year.

But 2026 could shatter records, with rocket and AI company SpaceX, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and AI startup Anthropic all potentially making their stock market debuts.

So what exactly does it take for a company to “go public”? The process, known as an initial public offering or IPO, typically takes months or years and can cost millions of dollars.