TSLA Stock Rides SpaceX IPO High — Elon Musk Says SpaceX ‘Deliberately’ Took Lower Airline Deals

• Elon Musk said SpaceX “deliberately” accepted lower airline deals to make Starlink simpler for passengers.
• Delta later partnered with Amazon’s satellite initiative despite Amazon having far fewer satellites than Starlink.
• Investors are increasingly focused on a potential SpaceX IPO valued between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion.

Shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) climbed 1% in premarket trading on Thursday as CEO Elon Musk defended Starlink’s airline strategy, while growing excitement around a potential SpaceX IPO continued spilling into the EV maker’s sentiment.

TSLA stock jumped 3% on Wednesday and is headed for its third straight weekly gain, rising about 4% so far this week. 

Delta’s Starlink Rejection Draws Attention

Musk said on X that SpaceX “deliberately” accepted lower airline revenue in exchange for making Starlink internet connectivity simpler and more accessible for passengers.

The comments came after Tesla influencer Sawyer Merritt, citing Baron Capital portfolio manager Ron Baron, said that Delta Air Lines rejected adopting Starlink across its fleet because the airline wanted passengers routed through its Delta Sync portal instead of a Starlink-branded system. 

Delta later partnered with Amazon’s low-Earth-orbit satellite initiative in March, despite Amazon having only around 300 satellites in orbit compared with Starlink’s over 10,000 satellites currently deployed.

In a separate post on X, Musk criticized Delta’s approach to onboard internet connectivity: “SpaceX requires that there be no annoying ‘portal’ to use Starlink,” Musk wrote. “Starlink WiFi must just work effortlessly every time, as though you were at home.”

“Delta wanted to make it painful, difficult and expensive for their customers. Hard to see how that is a winning strategy,” he added. The comments renewed investor focus on Starlink’s rapid expansion in the airline WiFi market, where several carriers have already begun deploying the satellite internet service to offer free high-speed connectivity onboard flights.

SpaceX IPO Frenzy 

The Starlink talks also come amid intensifying investor excitement around SpaceX’s expected public listing, which could value the company between $1.75 trillion and $2 trillion and potentially become one of the largest IPOs in market history. Markets have focused on SpaceX’s expansion far beyond rockets into satellite broadband, AI infrastructure, direct-to-device communications and orbital data-center ambitions.

Investor enthusiasm accelerated further after reports that Google has discussed a potential launch partnership with SpaceX for orbital AI data centers under its “Project Suncatcher” initiative. SpaceX has also announced agreements involving Anthropic and filed applications seeking approval to eventually deploy up to one million satellites supporting future orbital infrastructure.

Last week, Musk said that xAI would no longer operate as a separate company and would instead integrate into SpaceX under the “SpaceXAI” banner.  

Tesla-SpaceX Deal Speculation 

The growing SpaceX IPO buzz has also reignited fresh merger talks with Tesla as investors view Musk’s companies as part of a broader interconnected ecosystem spanning AI, robotics, autonomous driving, satellites and AI infrastructure. Investor interest around a potential Tesla-SpaceX deal has also risen as integration across Musk’s companies accelerates.

SpaceX recently merged with xAI, the AI company behind Grok, in a deal valuing SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at around $250 billion, creating a combined entity worth about $1.25 trillion. Tesla has converted its $2 billion investment in xAI into a stake in SpaceX after the deal. SpaceX has also reportedly explored a potential deal with Tesla, alongside alternative restructuring talks for xAI.

Starlink Emerges As SpaceX Cash Cow

Starlink has become SpaceX’s primary cash cow. The satellite internet business generated $11.4 billion in revenue last year, accounting for about 61% of SpaceX’s overall sales. Starlink also produced around $7.2 billion in adjusted EBITDA, translating into margins around 63%, according to The Information. 

SpaceX’s capex plans are also rapidly expanding. A Terafab chip complex in Texas involving Tesla and SpaceX could require at least $55 billion in investment, with some estimates climbing as high as $119 billion depending on future development phases, WSJ noted. The company is simultaneously investing heavily in launchpads, satellite manufacturing, solar-cell production and low-Earth-orbit infrastructure.

How Do Retail Traders Feel About TSLA?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for Tesla was ‘extremely bullish’ amid ‘high’ message volume.

So far this year, TSLA stock has lagged several of its “Magnificent Seven” peers, making it the group’s third-worst performer, with a 1% decline.    

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