Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has become one of the most closely watched companies in the U.S. equity market this year. Its shares are up about 4% from the closing price on the first day of trading and have rebounded 55% since reaching a low in August. The company is now valued at roughly $2.2 trillion, making it the sixth-largest listed company in the United States. Nvidia remains near the top of the rankings, with a market capitalization approaching $6 trillion. For an investor comparing a $10,000 allocation between the two, the question is not only how large their businesses could become, but also how quickly growth can translate into results, how profitable those businesses are and what the current valuations already assume.
SpaceX: Rockets, Starlink and space-based AI
Elon Musk's track record across several technology ventures makes SpaceX's long-term potential difficult for investors to ignore. Tesla has gained 23,440% since its 2010 listing, while Musk also helped found or advance technology companies including PayPal Holdings and OpenAI.
SpaceX currently combines rocket launches, Starlink satellite broadband and its SpaceXAI artificial-intelligence business under one company. Its longer-term plans include missions to Mars, facilities on the Moon and data centers deployed in space. These businesses are not solely conceptual: SpaceX already generates revenue from launch services and satellite internet.
The company's first earnings report after listing showed total revenue up 92% year over year, while its net loss narrowed by nearly half to $541 million. Starlink generated $1.7 billion in operating profit, up 79%, and its user base doubled to 12 million. The rocket business remains one of the world's largest commercial launch operations, and the two businesses have a direct connection: some SpaceX launch missions are used to place Starlink satellites into orbit.
More than 11,000 Starlink satellites are currently operating in low Earth orbit. The company ultimately plans to expand the network to 100,000 satellites to provide coverage around the world. SpaceX also plans to deploy 1 million artificial-intelligence satellites called Starmind, positioning them as small data centers in space.
Management views artificial intelligence as one of the company's biggest growth opportunities. SpaceX recently reached an agreement with Anthropic, which will lease Nvidia chips in SpaceXAI data centers. The potential value of the arrangement through 2029 is as much as $84.5 billion.
The valuation, however, already reflects a demanding growth outlook. SpaceX trades at roughly 69 times its trailing 12-month sales. The company will need to provide more quarterly evidence that its launch, satellite-internet and space-data-center projects can expand as planned and continue to meet market expectations.
Nvidia: A core supplier to the AI infrastructure buildout
Nvidia's growth is being driven primarily by generative AI and related data-center investment. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) are suited to the parallel computing required to train and run AI models, and the company continues to introduce new chips and complete systems.
Nvidia launched its Vera Rubin product family this year. The company says Vera Rubin can deliver up to 10 times the agent-processing throughput of its previous Grace Blackwell platform in large-scale deployments. The product line includes not only GPUs but also central processing units (CPUs) and other chips designed to support agentic AI applications.
As major cloud providers continue to increase their AI capital spending, Nvidia's revenue growth has accelerated again. For the fiscal second quarter of 2027, ended July 26, revenue more than doubled year over year to $96.2 billion, while gross margin rose from 72.4% to 75%. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress previously forecast 70% sales growth for fiscal 2028. She also said revenue could double if supply constraints were removed.
Nvidia maintains commercial links with companies across the cloud-computing and AI supply chains. It owns roughly $2 billion worth of shares in cloud-computing provider CoreWeave, which is also a buyer of Nvidia chips. SpaceX recently announced plans to purchase $40 billion worth of Nvidia chips for its data centers.
Nvidia and Amazon also have a two-way relationship. Amazon supplies Nvidia GPUs to cloud customers through AWS and recently purchased about 2 million of the chips. Nvidia, in turn, uses AWS cloud services.
Expectations for AI spending are still rising. Goldman Sachs estimates that global AI-related spending will reach $1 trillion this year. Measured as a share of U.S. gross domestic product, that spending is projected at about 1.8% in 2026, 2.5% in 2027 and 2.8% in 2028.
Nvidia faces less valuation pressure than SpaceX, with its shares trading at about 30 times trailing 12-month earnings. That multiple already reflects the possibility that growth will slow next year. Even so, continued order growth depends on capital-spending plans from cloud providers and other large customers.
Comparing the two: growth potential and earnings visibility
SpaceX has several potential growth engines, spanning rocket launches, satellite internet and space-based artificial intelligence. Its addressable opportunity may be larger, but the company remains in an expansion phase. Its losses and high price-to-sales multiple mean investors need more operating data before judging whether its longer-term plans can support the current valuation.
Nvidia, by contrast, has already built a large and profitable chip business and is receiving direct revenue from the investment cycle in AI infrastructure. Its earnings history and valuation are therefore easier to assess using currently disclosed financial data, while SpaceX's appeal depends more heavily on the delivery of future projects.
The two companies face different execution tests. SpaceX must turn its long-range plans into consistent cash flow, while Nvidia must sustain orders and margins if the pace of AI spending begins to slow.