Intensified Commercial Space Race: Amazon Plans to Acquire Satellite Company to Compete with SpaceX Starlink

SpaceX’s IPO has become the hottest topic in this year’s U.S. stock market. Investors are eagerly anticipating the company’s IPO in the U.S. market, which has also helped the commercial space sector climb continuously.

As aerospace becomes the new leading industry, an insider told the media that Amazon is in talks to acquire the satellite communications group Globalstar (Globalstar) to step up its own low Earth orbit satellite business and compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.

Globalstar’s share price has more than doubled in market value over the past year. Fueled by this news, the stock surged by as much as 24% in after-hours trading, before the gain narrowed to 15%. As of Wednesday’s close, the company’s market value was $8.81 billion.

Insiders noted that Amazon and Globalstar have already been in negotiations for a long time, and they are still discussing some complex details of a potential deal. Part of the reason is that Apple holds about 20% of Globalstar’s shares, which means Amazon needs to negotiate with Apple as well.

Direct competition

Amazon has long wanted to develop new business models as aerospace grows. It is deploying a new satellite project, Leo. It has already launched about 200 satellites and plans to roll out commercial services later this year. Amazon’s goal is to build a satellite network made up of 7,700 satellites, but the project’s progress has fallen behind.

In January this year, Amazon applied to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for more time to meet the final deadline to launch about 1,600 satellites before July 2026.

Leo is expected to become the most direct competitor to Starlink, but Starlink’s satellite network is much larger in scale, with more than 9,500 satellites.

Starlink is also one of SpaceX’s main profit engines. It provides network services for more than 9 million users worldwide, covering individual consumers, businesses, and governments, and contributes 50% to 80% of SpaceX’s revenue.

Analysts estimate that SpaceX’s IPO valuation is $1.75 trillion. Aside from its artificial intelligence division xAI and social platform X, its valuation largely depends on Starlink satellite services.

(Source: Caixin Global)