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From layoffs to IPOs, tech titans are positioning themselves for the next big battle over AI dominance.
SpaceX's IPO filing is officially here. OpenAI is also reportedly racing to go public by September, and could confidentially file paperwork as early as Friday. Meanwhile, Meta conducted its long-awaited layoffs on Wednesday, cutting roughly 10% of its staff, or around 8,000 workers.
For SpaceX and OpenAI, the public markets mean more transparency around how their businesses operate. (And, in the case of SpaceX, a potentially record-breaking payday for Goldman Sachs' bankers and some of its key investors.)
And boy, is there a lot to see about its business. SpaceX's IPO filing shows it posted a $4.9 billion loss in 2025 on revenue of $18.7 billion. Anthropic is set to pay it $1.25 billion a month for compute power. SpaceX also has plans to build businesses on the Moon and Mars, and issued a warning about Grok. It also detailed how everyday retail traders can buy in. More on the biggest revelations from the filing.
Meanwhile, Meta's layoffs mirror some of its rivals. Amazon conducted deep cuts last fall and earlier this year, while Microsoft offered buyouts to US employees nearing retirement.
AI-driven layoffs have become the norm this year. But with all due respect to the Blocks and Snapchats of the world, the stakes are a bit higher for the world's largest tech companies.
In a memo to staff following the layoffs, Mark Zuckerberg laid out what's on the line.
"Success isn't a given. AI is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes. The companies that lead the way will define the next generation," he wrote.
Meta, OpenAI, and SpaceX are fighting for AI supremacy from three different positions.
Meta: With a $1.5 trillion market cap and more than 3 billion active users, Meta is already a goliath. It's used that size to spend big on luring top talent.
The investments have yet to lead to a breakthrough product. The first model from Alexandr Wang's AI team received mixed reviews. And Meta has the added challenge of doing it all without an underlying cloud business benefiting from the AI boom, as is the case for Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
SpaceX: Part rocket company, part telecom company, part AI startup. Add in the fact that the world's richest man is behind SpaceX, and it's easy to see why some believe its IPO could raise $75 billion and value it at more than $2 trillion.
Still, SpaceX's critics question whether that kind of valuation is justified. (To be fair, you could say that about A LOT of tech companies these days.) There's also the question of Tesla, Musk's other massive public company. Can the CEO keep tabs on two giants in the AI race?
OpenAI: The company that kicked off the AI craze back in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT still holds incredible name-brand recognition. It's also fresh off a legal win against Musk, although he's vowed to appeal the verdict.
OpenAI's first-mover advantage isn't immortal, though. Anthropic is gaining on, and sometimes eclipsing, OpenAI as it eyes its own IPO. And then there's the bigger question of whether its revenue can ever catch up to its massive spending on data centers.
Dan is the lead writer for BI Today, Business Insider's flagship daily newsletter. Dan often interviews executives about everything from AI's impact on capitalism to robotics to the potential SaaSpocalypse as part of his work on the newsletter.Dan was an editor and reporter at BI, covering financial technology and market structure.His previous work includes everything from inside Robinhood's failed "Checking and Savings" product that eventually led to Congress getting involved to the internal arguments over JPMorgan's failed attempt to launch a finance app for millennials.Before joining Business Insider, Dan wrote about risk management in derivatives markets for Risk.net and fintech for WatersTechnology. He initially covered local sports for The Journal News, a daily newspaper serving the lower Hudson Valley. Got a tip? Contact this editor via email at [email protected].
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