(SeaPRwire) – By: Lucas Caldwell
Everyone is fixated on the 74% upside Bernstein calls for SpaceX. No one is asking why the firm’s biggest bet isn’t on launch services or even Starlink. It’s on AI. That’s not a minor tweak to a growth thesis. It’s a full-scale redefinition of what people think SpaceX actually is. The market hasn’t caught up to how far this company has expanded beyond building rockets. I chatted with a senior fund manager last week who still thinks SpaceX is just a niche space play. That’s exactly the mistake most investors are making right now.
Let’s lay out the hard numbers straight. Bernstein rates SpaceX Outperform with a $248 price target, 74% upside from Wednesday’s $141.04 close. The firm expects SpaceX AI revenue to jump from $24.6 billion in 2026 to $115.1 billion in 2027. Total company revenue would hit $46.4 billion in 2026 and $150.4 billion in 2027, with almost all growth coming from AI. SpaceX is already building out infrastructure for orbital data centers. It acquired Cursor to add coding tools to its Grok AI platform.
The growth story doesn’t stop at AI. Bernstein forecasts Starlink connectivity revenue will hit $17.0 billion in 2026 and $27.7 billion in 2027, rising to $205.9 billion by 2031. Forty-six airlines have already signed up for Starlink, with Qatar Airways expanding rollout in August and Royal Air Maroc joining recently. SpaceX is also planning the $16.8 billion initial phase of its Terafab chip facility in Texas. The average Wall Street price target for SPCX sits at $231.63, implying 64% upside from current levels.
The recent panic in turbine blade stocks tells you everything about how incumbents are reacting. When SpaceX hinted it would enter turbine blade manufacturing, Howmet Aerospace dropped 4% on the week. GE Vernova fell 3% and Siemens Energy dropped 6%. Most Wall Street analysts say it will take four or more years for SpaceX to ramp up production. They argue the broad selloff across the sector is overdone. But that take misses the bigger picture. SpaceX doesn’t have to take 100% of the market to upend the entire sector’s pricing power. Even a small new entrant can squeeze margins for every existing player.
22V Research notes SpaceX’s near-term goal is probably making spare parts for its own power fleet, not going after incumbents directly. SpaceX bought APR Energy earlier this year, which already buys turbines from GE Vernova and other existing players. But this is how SpaceX enters every new market. It starts with supporting its own operations, drives down internal costs, then expands to sell to outside customers. The same pattern played out with commercial rocket launches, then with consumer satellite internet. Incumbents always dismiss the threat early, and end up playing catch-up later.
Within five years, SpaceX will reshape three trillion-dollar industries no one expects it to dominate.
Author bio: Lucas Caldwell, a tech opinion leader covering space tech and AI growth for millions of followers on X/Twitter.