SpaceX's biggest surprise isn't just rockets? Silicon Valley tycoon: The truly underestimated part is its AI programming business.

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SpaceX has officially entered the capital markets, but beyond rockets and satellite internet, a top Silicon Valley investor believes the company’s most underrated market potential lies hidden in an AI programming tool.

SpaceX will complete its IPO tonight with an issue price of $135 per share, valuing the company at over $1.75 trillion. Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of tech investment firm Altimeter Capital, pointed out in a podcast that the potential option to acquire the AI programming tool Cursor could be SpaceX’s biggest upside surprise.

He believes that this move would give SpaceX the ability to internalize massive computing power, train and run cutting-edge AI models, and the code scripts generated by Cursor users could further provide data support for training Grok’s new model.

The significance of this insight for investors is: SpaceX’s valuation logic may not necessarily be anchored only on rocket launch frequency and Starlink user growth. The potential monetization path of its AI business could provide a new growth curve that has not been fully priced in before.

Cursor Option: The Overlooked AI Monetization Engine

Gerstner clearly stated in the program that the current market discussion around SpaceX is too focused on traditional business, while ignoring its strategic layout in frontier AI fields.

"I think what’s been overlooked is that they’ve made remarkable progress in building frontier market capabilities," Gerstner said. He pointed out that the Cursor acquisition option is the key—SpaceX has already accumulated some basic capabilities in building independent AI models, and the computing power monetization path brought by Cursor allows it to internalize external resources for model training and inference.

Specifically, Gerstner’s logic is: The massive amount of code scripts generated during Cursor users’ usage can serve as training data to optimize the next-generation Grok model. This means SpaceX’s AI business is not starting from scratch, but already possesses the potential prototype of a data flywheel effect.

Revenue Eightfold Growth Target: Aggressive or Achievable?

Controversy around SpaceX mostly centers upon the credibility of its revenue growth expectations.

According to Gerstner, the core skepticism from short sellers is: SpaceX’s revenue last year was about $18 billion, while the market expects it to reach about $160 billion in the next three to four years—which requires revenue to grow about eight times in that period.

"Historically, very few companies have managed to achieve eightfold revenue growth in three to four years, and that’s what’s unsettling," Gerstner conveyed the short seller’s view.

But he himself is optimistic. He believes the scaling up of Starlink combined with the advancement of the AI business makes the target realistic and achievable. After completing compute cooperation agreements with Google and Anthropic, SpaceX’s valuation multiple compressed from around 100 times historical revenue to 39 times, reflecting a market reassessment of its commercialization path.

Veteran Baker: Hold Long-Term, Bullish on Musk

Another heavyweight investor participating in the discussion, Gavin Baker, managing partner of Altreides Management, is a representative of long-term bullish investors on SpaceX.

According to a previous Wall Street Journal report, Baker has twice earned over $1 billion in investment returns from SpaceX—the first time during his tenure as a stock picker at Fidelity Investments, and the second time through his own fund.

Asked how he would respond if SpaceX’s stock experienced a sharp pullback after listing, as other hot tech stocks have, Baker said this is a "set and forget" long-term position, and advised investors to do their own due diligence.

AI Infrastructure Investment Returns: Both Investors Are Bullish

On a broader AI investment logic, both Baker and Gerstner remain optimistic about returns on capital expenditure by large-scale cloud computing firms.

Gerstner expects AI providers to generate about $300 billion in revenue next year, while Baker believes the actual figure will be even higher. Both think "the numbers add up." Gerstner cited millions of SMEs and consumers choosing AI tools at once, believing such collective rational economic behavior is the strongest evidence AI is creating real value.

Baker also made a noteworthy judgment on Nvidia’s strategic prospects. He pointed out, as more of Nvidia’s major clients start developing their own chips, Nvidia can counter-enter the cloud computing market. "If all his clients are going to compete with him, why not compete with them?"

Baker said. He believes, with its own AI models (such as Nemotron) and existing compute accumulation, Nvidia has the capacity to become one of the world’s largest cloud computing companies faster than the market expects.

Risk Warning and DisclaimerThe market has risk, investment requires caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it take into account the specific investment goals, financial situation or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article fit their particular circumstances. Investments made accordingly are at their own risk. ```