22/05/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | MAY 22, 2026

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Musk’s SpaceX files for IPO, potentially largest in history o Rocket and satellite giant seeks to raise US$75 billion, targets valuation of US$1.75 trillion

Airbnb expands into hotels, cars and groceries

geopolitical dispute between Beijing and Washington. Nvidia boss Jensen Huang this week said he expected China to eventually open its market to high-end US chips that can train and run artificial intelligence systems. The superpowers are in a fierce race for AI supremacy, and Nvidia’s H200 chip had until recently been barred from sale in China by Washington over national security concerns. However, there is no sign that Chinese tech companies are buying them, as Beijing ramps up domestic chip development in a bid to challenge American dominance in the sector. – AFP SAN FRANCISCO: Airbnb, facing tighter local regulations on short-term home rentals, announced on Wednesday it is adding boutique hotels, car rentals and grocery delivery to its app in a bid to transform itself into a one-stop travel shop. The rollout marks the latest step in Airbnb’s push to capture more of the travel spending that currently flows to competitors like Booking.com and Expedia. This evolution – 18 years after the company’s scrappy beginnings in San Francisco – is one of Airbnb’s answers to increasingly tough restrictions on short-term rentals in key markets. In December, Spain hit the company with a €65 million (RM297 million) fine over more than 65,000 non-compliant listings, and Barcelona decided not to renew thousands of rental licenses when they expire in 2028. New York has banned nearly all short-term private rentals since 2023, and Paris stepped up its crackdown on illegal listings in 2026. “Travel shouldn’t just be convenient. It should be meaningful,“ CEO Brian Chesky said in a statement. “The best trips help you explore, learn, and come home a little different than when you left.” The updated app adds grocery delivery through Instacart in more than 25 US cities, as well as airport and train station transfers and luggage storage services in more than 160 cities worldwide. The platform will also offer car rentals, though the company has not yet named its partners. Chesky outlined the new features at a presentation at the company headquarters in San Francisco. “We know that a home is not right for every type of trip, like if you’re booking last minute, you’re staying for just one night, you’re on a quick business trip, or when you’re searching for an Airbnb, like in New York, and none are available .... Boo,“ he said, joking about the restrictions in the Big Apple. “In this case, the best option might just be...hotel! That’s right, I said it,“ Chesky added, as Airbnb employees clapped. Chesky argued that boutique and independent hotels account for 60% of hotel rooms around the world and his company wants to team up with them. “They want an ally, they want a platform designed just for them, so they can compete with the chains,“ Chesky said. The app is also getting a range of artificial intelligence features, including a virtual support assistant available in 11 languages. Airbnb posted revenue of US$2.68 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 18% from a year earlier. – AFP

NEW YORK: Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocketed toward Wall Street on Wednesday, filing plans for what could become the largest initial public offering in history as the company seeks to raise up to US$75 billion on the public markets. If successful, the listing of the rocket and satellite giant would dwarf any IPO in history and cement Musk’s status as one of the most consequential entrepreneurs of his generation. After the IPO, Musk would be the CEO, CTO and chairman of the board, the filing revealed. US media reports say SpaceX is hoping to raise US$75 billion and win a valuation of as much as US$1.75 trillion when it begins trading as early as next month. The filing of the S-1 prospectus – a document companies are required to present to the SEC before listing on a public stock exchange, providing potential investors with detailed financial information, possible risks and business strategy – marked the first time SpaceX has publicly disclosed detailed financials in its 24-year history. It revealed that the company generated US$18.7 billion in revenue in 2025 and posted an operating loss of US$2.6 billion as it poured money into next-generation rocket development and artificial intelligence. SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet business is the clear financial engine of the company, generating US$11.4 billion in revenue in 2025, up nearly 50% year-on-year. The AI segment, which includes xAI and the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), recorded US$3.2 billion in revenue for the full year 2025 but posted an operating loss of US$6.4 billion as the company raced to build out AI training data centres. Capital expenditure for the segment alone reached US$12.7 billion in 2025 and US$7.7 billion in just the first quarter of 2026 – reflecting the enormous sums necessary to keep pace in the AI race against deep-pocketed rivals including Google, Meta and Amazon. SpaceX also disclosed it had struck a deal to rent out spare capacity at its COLOSSUS and COLOSSUS II data centres to rival AI firm Anthropic for US$1.25 billion per month through May 2029. The filing comes just days after Musk suffered a significant legal setback in his bitter feud with OpenAI, a direct competitor also racing toward a public listing. With Anthropic eyeing its own IPO as well,

The SpaceX Starship spacecraft sits atop the Super Heavy Booster as preparations continue for the 12th test flight of the Starship in Starbase, Texas. – REUTERSPIC

computer satellites as early as 2028, with the long-term goal of putting 100 gigawatts of compute capacity in orbit annually – a task requiring thousands of rocket launches per year and the transport of roughly one million metric tons of payload to orbit. The company said it was uniquely positioned to meet that challenge, calling it “incredibly difficult” and one no other company could tackle at commercial scale. In a staggering figure, SpaceX claimed a total addressable market – a company’s estimate of the maximum revenue opportunity available for its products and services – of US$28.5 trillion across its businesses, excluding China and Russia. Reports indicate SpaceX is targeting a June listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol SPCX, with trading expected to commence shortly thereafter. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives predicted in a note that the next step after the IPO, would be a merger with Tesla, creating an AI powered “holy grail”. – AFP

2026 could prove one of the most momentous years on Wall Street in recent memory. The filing confirmed a dual-class share structure that will leave Musk firmly in control of the company after the listing, sidestepping the kind of governance fights that have dogged him at Tesla, where shareholders have repeatedly taken aim at his compensation and the board’s independence. Musk, by far the world’s richest person, is set to control about 85% of voting power while holding around 42% of equity. SpaceX acknowledged the arrangement poses risks for outside investors, noting that Musk “will have the power to control the outcome of matters requiring shareholder approval, including election of all our directors”. The filing also laid out an ambitious roadmap to build data centres in space, arguing that solar energy captured in orbit represents “the only truly scalable solution” to the soaring power demands of AI computing. SpaceX said it plans to begin deploying AI

Nvidia posts record US$81.6 billion quarterly revenue SAN FRANCISCO: Chip giant Nvidia on Wednesday posted record quarterly revenue of US$81.6 billion, blowing past Wall Street forecasts as insatiable demand for its artificial intelligence hardware powered another blockbuster quarter. Nvidia’s data centre business, which sells the processors powering AI systems at tech giants and technology companies worldwide, was the engine behind the quarter’s performance. Demand for Nvidia products seems insatiable despite recurring talk on Wall Street that the AI spending spree could come to a halt.

Since its February earnings report, Nvidia has disclosed a US$10 billion investment in Anthropic, a major deal with Meta, and a commitment to AI company CoreWeave targeting five gigawatts of AI facilities by 2030. For the current quarter, Nvidia projected revenue of US$91 billion, representing a further acceleration in growth. Crucially, Nvidia said it was not assuming any data center revenue from China in its outlook, where its core product has been caught up in a

Data center revenue, which includes Nvidia’s key graphics processing units (GPUs), hit a record US$75.2 billion, up 92% from a year ago. A GPU is a specialised computer chip originally designed to render video game graphics at high speed, but Nvidia has since made it the engine powering artificial intelligence. That pivot has made Nvidia the world’s most valuable company, on the back of huge demand for its AI hardware.

The results for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, ending April 26, marked an 85% jump from the same period a year ago and a 20% rise from the prior quarter, underscoring Nvidia’s status as the primary beneficiary of a global AI infrastructure buildout. Net profit surged to US$58.3 billion, more than tripling from US$18.8 billion in the year-earlier period.