SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) surged Wednesday after founder Elon Musk made a sweeping prediction about Starlink’s long-term dominance of global internet infrastructure.
SPCX stock closed up 9.65% to $146.15, driven by comments Musk made during a company town hall meeting broadcast on X.
The rally comes after a difficult stretch for the stock, which barely broke even over the past month, pressured by post-IPO dilution and a 911.5 million share unlock on August 6.
Musk told employees the Starlink team “brought from nothing an entire global Internet system… the first high-bandwidth global Internet system to ever exist.”
He went further, stating, “I actually think that down the road it will probably do the majority of the Internet. In fact, I think it might end up doing over 90% of all Internet traffic on Starlink.”
Musk noted that Starlink already has “almost 11,000 satellites in orbit… almost twice as many satellites as everyone else combined,” and projected expansion to 100,000 satellites with Starlink V3 and beyond.
The financial momentum behind that vision is already visible, with SpaceX reporting Q2 2026 Connectivity revenue of $4.29 billion, up 66% year over year, as Starlink subscribers doubled to 12 million.
Enterprise and Government revenue climbed 108%, and SpaceX’s total revenue jumped 92% to $7.81 billion, easily beating analyst estimates.
The 90% forecast, if even partially accurate, describes a market concentration dynamic that global communications has never experienced, handing one company extraordinary pricing power across a historically fragmented industry.
The most-funded direct rival remains Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) Project Kuiper, while AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS), Globalstar (NASDAQ: GSAT), and Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) are all racing to build competing direct-to-device or broadband constellations.
Terrestrial carriers like AT&T (NYSE: T) occupy an unusual position, already partnering with satellite operators for direct-to-cell coverage while facing a potential threat to their fiber and 5G economics if orbital broadband dominates last-mile traffic.
For investors seeking broader thematic exposure across the sector, the Procure Space ETF (NASDAQ: UFO) offers access to the space industry, though heavy weightings in names like GSAT, ASTS, and VSAT mean sector concentration cuts both ways.
SPCX stock is likely to remain volatile given the unknowns inherent to the space sector, with investors watching the pending $60 billion Cursor close and the next Starship V3 flight for directional signals.
If Musk’s 90% forecast gains even partial credibility, competitor multiples across the satellite broadband landscape may compress well before Starlink actually reaches that threshold.
