SpaceX Foreign Stakes Surface as IPO Bars China Investors

SpaceX's record IPO last week valued the company at more than $2 trillion and made Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire, yet it also exposed a quiet channel through which investors tied to China and other foreign entities acquired shares years earlier. The company performs classified Pentagon work, including spy satellites, while facing U.S. government warnings that Beijing seeks technology access through such investments. SpaceX responded by excluding buyers from China and Hong Kong from the public offering, citing regulatory risks.

Court records unsealed this month in a Delaware dispute involving middleman firm Tomales Bay Capital list at least a dozen investors with addresses in mainland China, Hong Kong or Russia who bought into SpaceX funds between 2018 and 2021. Stakes ranged from $800,000 to $40 million. One $15 million commitment came from an entity linked to David Su, co-founder of Beijing venture firm MPCi, which has backed Chinese satellite companies later sanctioned by the U.S. for alleged ties to Russia's Wagner Group and Iran. MPCi has also partnered with Chinese state aerospace funds. A separate set of investments totaling roughly $48 million flowed through Bracket Capital, an entity with Qatari royal family connections.

Tomales Bay's lawyer stated that investors received only quarterly financials and no non-public technical information, and that most listed addresses do not reflect actual citizenship or residency in adversary nations. SpaceX itself did not comment. An Indiana University professor who previously reviewed foreign investments for the State Department noted that the core regulatory question is whether such limited partners gained access to non-public data that could reach competitors.

Post-IPO market data show other large holders benefiting from the listing. Valor Equity Partners holds a stake valued near $96.6 billion, tied to board member Antonio Gracias. PayPal co-founder Luke Nosek's position is worth $6.3 billion, while president and COO Gwynne Shotwell and CFO Bret Johnsen each hold stakes above $1 billion. Shares closed Thursday at a $2.43 trillion market capitalization, still 37 percent above the $135 IPO price despite later cooling.

The investor list emerged from a corporate lawsuit that reached the Delaware Supreme Court after ProPublica sought public access. SpaceX previously permitted some Chinese capital only when routed through offshore vehicles such as the Cayman Islands. No evidence in the records shows improper technology transfer, and the U.S. maintains no outright prohibition on such investments in military contractors, only heavy regulation.