[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong] U.S. retail investors like a rivalry with a storyline. The matchup drawing the most attention on Wall Street now is Sam Altman’s OpenAI versus Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

One sells AI to companies and individuals worldwide. The other is building space infrastructure with rockets and satellites. Both talk about the future, but an assessment is emerging that the stock market’s trust is becoming clearer. Cointelegraph reported on Jan. 6 that market attention is currently closer to OpenAI.

SpaceX is pushing a vast vision with Starship and Starlink, but it is still at a stage of consuming huge capital. Starlink is expected to become a recurring revenue model over the long term, but it faces challenges including high costs, regulation and schedule delays.

OpenAI, by contrast, already has a clear revenue structure. ChatGPT subscriptions, API sales and enterprise AI solutions are translating into actual revenue, and Microsoft’s investment supports business stability. A market assessment is repeated that “Musk talks about the big picture, and Altman produces quarterly results.”

Wall Street is focusing on the possibility that mega initial public offerings could continue over the next few years, centered on OpenAI, SpaceX and Anthropic. OpenAI was valued at about $500 billion in October last year, and the market even discusses the possibility of a $1 trillion IPO. Government contracts, corporate customers and a recurring revenue structure are described as a typical growth story Wall Street prefers.

SpaceX sold shares at a value of $800 billion late last year, and Musk has mentioned a listing in the second half of 2026. But there is also substantial skeptical sentiment in the market that “Musk’s schedules are always confident, but are rarely kept.” Anthropic also put “safe AI” at the forefront and was valued at $350 billion in November last year, but it is assessed as relatively quiet in terms of buzz and market expectations.

IPO specialists see this trend as “breaking the old practice of companies staying private for longer.” Large-scale fundraising is essential to survive the AI arms race, because in a private state it is not possible to secure hundreds of thousands of graphics processing units and power infrastructure. JPMorgan said market liquidity is abundant despite global uncertainty, and that if the structure is in place, demand for large deals is sufficient.

Market figures including CNBC commentator Jim Cramer say the gap among AI companies will widen as power costs and infrastructure burdens grow. Some cite Meta as an alternative, but analysis also suggests OpenAI’s position could change completely if public funding and large contracts flow in.

The market is also sensing an interesting shift. Among Gen Z investors, Sam Altman is becoming a more familiar name than Elon Musk. Rockets feel distant, but ChatGPT is a tool used every day.

Cointelegraph said the outcome of this fight has not been decided. But it said the signal the stock market is sending now is clear, that the stock market is choosing profits over show and structure over dreams. It assessed that in this head-to-head matchup, Wall Street is siding with Sam Altman.