SpaceX will launch 80% of the world's cargo volume into orbit by 2026

SpaceX has already launched about 1,950 tons into orbit in 2026, accounting for nearly 80% of the global volume. Elon Musk called the company an "anomaly in the matrix"—a reference to the film "The Matrix," where an anomaly is considered a phenomenon that cannot be explained by the system.

According to the tracker ooinsights, 2,396 tons have been delivered into orbit since the beginning of the year across 236 successful launches—4.7% less than the same period in 2025. The next seven companies in terms of volume together launched less than a quarter of SpaceX's result. A significant part of the gap is explained by Starship: three launches of this heavy rocket delivered 120 tons each. Only the Chinese state-owned CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation) can compete with SpaceX in terms of launches, but the gap in tons is more noticeable.

Musk's comment came amid discussions about Tesla's future. One investor suggested critics forget about Roadster sales and consider a potential merger of Tesla and SpaceX. Musk disagreed: in his opinion, the greatest value for Tesla will be created by Optimus—a humanoid robot—and Cybercab—an autonomous taxi.

Musk listed four directions capable of growing to the level of "K2 and above": superintelligence, robots, solar energy, and mass delivery into space. K2 is a type II civilization on the Kardashev scale: it uses all the energy of its star. Musk previously noted that Earth's economy looks very modest compared to an economy at the K2 level. At the same time, the only direction from the list that is already operating on an industrial scale is regular rocket launches.

The future flying electric car Roadster was called "very cool" by the head of Tesla, who promised to bring the project to the conveyor. Increasing the mass of payloads launched into orbit is becoming the main lever for the entrepreneur to manage both businesses. Given the forecast of a possible increase in SpaceX's valuation to $100 trillion, investors should pay closer attention to this indicator.