Dear Reader,
This is Simmy Adelman with Behind the Markets.
Happy Thursday. Today is Thursday, June 4th.
There is a story that just came out recently that I don't think got nearly enough attention.
SpaceX Just Won $6.4 Billion in Defense Contracts in a Single Week
On May 29th, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract to build a constellation of satellites for President Trump's Golden Dome missile defense system.
That's on top of a $2.29 billion contract awarded earlier that same week for a secure, high-speed satellite communications network connecting military sensors and weapons platforms across the globe.
In one week, SpaceX collected over $6 billion in government defense contracts.
Think about that for a second.
What Is the Golden Dome?
The Golden Dome is Trump's version of Israel's Iron Dome — but scaled to protect the entire United States from incoming missiles, including advanced hypersonic weapons developed by China and Russia.
The official name is the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator.
What it does is place detection capabilities in space rather than relying on ground-based sensors and military aircraft.
The satellites SpaceX is building will track foreign aircraft and missiles using advanced space-based sensors, secure communications links, and AI-enabled ground processing.
The goal is a persistent, global capability to detect and track airborne threats from orbit — eliminating the blind spots that ground-based systems can't see.
SpaceX is expected to have the satellite constellation operational by 2028.
Why Space Changes Everything
We have talked about this here before, but it bears repeating in this context.
We are living through the next revolution in warfare.
And this revolution is powered by AI.
And the key to all of it is speed.
The side that can detect a threat, communicate that information, and respond the fastest wins.
Ground-based sensors have blind spots and lag time.
Space-based sensors see everything, all the time, with no gaps.
That is why the Pentagon declared space its number one priority.
That is why China is racing to put a base on the moon.
And that is why SpaceX just became not just the dominant commercial rocket company in the world, but a core pillar of American national defense.
What This Means for the IPO
We have been talking about the SpaceX IPO for weeks now.
The company is targeting a valuation of over $1.75 trillion.
A lot of people have been asking whether that valuation is justified.
SpaceX just collected over $6 billion in defense contracts in a single week.
The Golden Dome alone is estimated to cost between $185 billion and potentially $524 billion over 20 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
SpaceX is positioned as one of the primary contractors for that program.
Between Starlink, commercial launches dominating 50% of all orbital launches worldwide, and the xAI merger and data centers in space…
This is more than just another rocket company.
This is an infrastructure company, a communications company, a defense contractor, and an AI company — all wrapped into one.
And every single one of those businesses runs on chips.
SpaceX's own IPO filing admits it cannot get enough chips to power its ambitions.
They are ordering NVIDIA chips at scale, and building their own chip factory in Texas.
The entire orbital AI data center vision depends on solving the chip supply problem.
And there is one little-known company holding over 6,800 patents that NVIDIA, Apple, Google, and Amazon all depend on that sits at the center of this entire buildout.
The Bigger Picture
Every time I think I have a clear picture of what SpaceX is, it gets bigger.
Elon Musk left that Pentagon meeting last year and immediately started talking about data centers in space.
Now his company is building the eyes of America's missile defense system.
The moon is the ultimate high ground.
And SpaceX is the company that owns the infrastructure to get there.
I’m interested to see how this all plays out.
All the best,
Simmy Adelman, Editor-in-Chief
Behind the Markets
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Written by Simcha Adelman