SpaceX and Tesla erased more than $1.2 trillion in combined market value during July, placing Elon Musk's two listed companies at the center of a broad retreat among large technology stocks. SpaceX accounted for more than $750 billion of the monthly loss and Tesla for over $440 billion. The reversal ended the immediate euphoria surrounding SpaceX's record stock-market debut and intensified questions about how quickly both businesses can convert ambitious technology programs into cash and earnings.
SpaceX shares fell 30% over 30 days and touched $107.01 on July 28. That price was 52% below the record of $225.64 reached on June 15, only three days after the company completed the largest initial public offering on record. Measured from that peak rather than from the start of July, nearly $1.47 trillion of SpaceX's market value disappeared after the company had briefly surpassed Microsoft and Amazon by capitalization.
The speed of the decline contrasts with the scale of the financing SpaceX secured as a new public company. Its June 12 offering raised more than $75 billion, and the company placed another $25 billion of bonds several days later. Investors must now assess not only the value assigned to its space-services business but also the burden created by its infrastructure plans, particularly the cost of deploying artificial-intelligence capacity.
SpaceX's first quarterly results as a listed company, scheduled for August 4, will therefore be the next concrete test. Attention will center on AI infrastructure spending and on whether the operating figures can support a valuation that expanded rapidly after the listing and then contracted just as sharply. The report will give shareholders their first formal opportunity to compare the capital raised in June with the company's expenditure requirements and near-term financial performance.
Tesla's July decline reflects a different stage of the same investment problem. The electric-vehicle manufacturer lost more than $440 billion in market value during the month and has surrendered one third of its capitalization since the beginning of the year. Second-quarter revenue and vehicle deliveries reached record levels, but operating profit fell 57% from a year earlier and the operating margin narrowed to 1.4%, showing that volume growth did not translate into stronger operating economics.
The gap was also visible in earnings and cash generation. Adjusted earnings were $0.33 per share, well below the $0.53 expected by analysts, while free cash flow turned negative as expenditure on artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous initiatives increased substantially. Tesla's robotaxi, full self-driving and Optimus programs remain distant from producing profits, leaving the established vehicle business to absorb the cost of projects intended to define the company's next growth phase.
The pressure extended beyond Musk's companies. Alphabet lost about $375 billion in market value during July, Micron Technology $287 billion, Nvidia $87 billion and Amazon $74 billion. Apple moved in the opposite direction, adding almost $700 billion, rising more than 23% since the start of the year and reaching a record above $339. That advance allowed Apple to overtake Nvidia as the world's most valuable company, supported by its lower exposure to spending on AI infrastructure.
July's valuation changes draw a sharp distinction between technology groups financing large, long-dated infrastructure programs and a company perceived as less exposed to that investment cycle. For SpaceX, the August 4 results must clarify the cost and pace of its AI build-out after a $100 billion combined equity-and-bond financing. For Tesla, the challenge is to restore margins and cash generation while its autonomous and robotics projects remain pre-profit. Until those two tests produce clearer evidence, the combined $1.2 trillion loss remains a market judgment on execution, not merely a temporary change in sentiment.
