Wood Sister Stands Firmly Behind Musk: SpaceX IPO Subscription Demand "Like Hungry Wolves", Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) Will Win the Autonomous Driving Race.

On May 7th, Eastern US time, Cathie Wood, the founder and CEO of Ark Invest, expressed strong optimism in an interview regarding SpaceX's upcoming largest IPO in history and Tesla, Inc.'s competitive position in the autonomous taxi market. Marketed as the "Wood Sister" for her steadfast bullishness on disruptive innovation, Wood described SpaceX's orbital data center business as a huge opportunity that could overshadow Starlink, and systematically argued that Tesla, Inc.'s vertical integration will crush all competitors on cost structure logic. Wood's remarks come at a time when Tesla, Inc.'s stock price has been struggling since the beginning of the year and SpaceX's IPO is causing valuation controversies. Her clear stance and sharp arguments have sparked a debate on Wall Street about "how much disruptive innovation is worth." Wood used the phrase "hungry demand but insufficient supply" to describe the current market demand for SpaceX stock. She noted that although SpaceX plans to raise about $75 billion through the IPO and increase its valuation to $1.75 trillionmore than double the record fundraising amount of over $30 billion for Saudi Aramco in 2019this may still not be enough to meet the demand from institutional and high net-worth investors. She predicted a "supply-demand imbalance" at the beginning of the IPO, leading to significant price fluctuations, but investors' long-term enthusiasm for SpaceX will withstand the short-term volatility. Wood emphasized, "Think about how SpaceX has reignited people's dreams of space exploration. This has not only inspired investors' imagination but also everyone's imagination." Ark Invest's venture capital fund ARKVX, with a current size of over $850 million, holds the largest position in SpaceX in that fund. As of the end of the first quarter of 2026, SpaceX's weight in ARKVX's net assets was 17.02%. Wood explained that since ARKVX is a "public-private hybrid" fund, even if SpaceX goes public, the fund does not need to sell its SpaceX shares, but she suggested that there may be some reduction after the IPO to meet the fund's target allocation requirement of 80% in private companies. Orbital Data Center: Beyond Starlink's "Trillion-dollar Imagination" In the endorsement of SpaceX's IPO, the Starship is the core strategic asset. The latest documents show that the Starship project has accumulated more than $15 billion in investment, while the Falcon 9's development costs are only about $400 million. The latest notification from the US Coast Guard on May 7th confirmed that the Starship's 12th comprehensive test flight (the V3 configuration inaugural flight) is scheduled for launch on May 16th Beijing time. This mission will...