NEW YORK – Anna Watts, a 33-year-old public relations manager in New York, has stashed away US$6,500 ($8,375) to buy SpaceX stock after it hits the market on June 12. If she had her way, she’d buy even more. She tried to borrow US$5,000 from her best friend and applied for a bank loan, too, but both turned her away. Watts has been a fan of Elon Musk since she bought a few shares of Tesla, his other publicly traded company, two years after its 2010 IPO and watched them go on to soar as his bet on the electric car turned him into the world’s richest man. So, like thousands of others, she’s eager to get a piece of his bigger follow-up act – one that bundles artificial intelligence, satellite communications and even long-shot hopes of colonising Mars.“The more, the better,” Watts said. “There is no such thing as too much when it comes to investing in one of the most ambitious companies that’s ever existed.”Few companies have generated as much buzz ahead of their market debuts as SpaceX, which is set to raise about US$75 billion this week in what could become the largest initial public offering in history. Part of that is by design. Musk’s courtship of his die-hard followers since Tesla’s early days has given him rock-star status and lent a gravity-defying quality to the car company’s stock. Now, he’s looking to replicate that at SpaceX by reserving 30 per cent of the shares for retail investors, triple the amount that’s typically allocated in IPOs, which tend to give an inside track to hedge funds and other big-money types.That’s helped generate excitement about the IPO even as worries about a potential AI stock bubble sow unease on some corners of Wall Street.A whole group of other space-related companies has gotten swept up in the excitement. And at brokerage firms, the SpaceX orders have been pouring in, with demand exceeding the amount of stock being sold more than four times over.Bryan Mitchell is among those planning to buy. The 48-year-old marketing executive intends to invest several thousand dollars in the IPO. He has also poured tens of thousands into Baron Partners Fund, which holds a stake in SpaceX. “This feels like the appetizer. You have to believe in Elon,” he said. “I’m willing to overpay for it just to say I’m part of the thing.”There are plenty of risks. While SpaceX has a leg up in the space race through its rocket launch business, government contracts and satellite-based broadband service, Starlink, the company’s US$1.8 trillion valuation rides heavily on its more speculative prospects. And space ventures are particularly risky, which was underscored recently when Blue Origin – SpaceX’s Jeff Bezos-backed competitor – saw its rocket explode during launch. SpaceX’s roughly US$19 billion of annual revenue is akin to what’s brought in by lacklustre companies like Dollar Tree or AutoZone, and it will take considerable spending to reach goals like building data centres in space. xAI, its artificial-intelligence arm, alone burns through US$1 billion a month. “Anyone I have talked to who may end up investing has said their main reason is Musk’s Midas touch,” said Dec Mullarkey, a managing director at SLC Management, an investment firm. “The payoff could be far away.”At Tesla, Musk has a history of struggling to meet his most ambitious targets. While the company successfully ushered electric cars into the mainstream, its revenue growth has stalled. Its robot-taxi rollout has disappointed, its self driving software is available in fewer existing car models than many hoped, and its Optimus robot assistants are still years away from populating people’s homes. Tesla’s stock also trades at more than 180 times its expected earnings, making it one of the most expensive stocks in the S&P 500 Index.But that’s also a testament to those who have kept the faith.Danny Araújo Mota, 26, who works in the education technology field in Austin, first bought Tesla shares in 2020 because it was the only way to buy into Musk’s vision. He has set aside US$25,000 to buy SpaceX shares. He’s not concerned if his order isn’t immediately filled – which would potentially deprive him of the quick gains that often follow a hot IPO – because he said he’s in it for the long term. “Once in a while, there are stocks where the conviction of the founder and/or CEO is too great to not support,” he said. “He’s a great role model.”Such long-term believers may lend significant support to the stock. Craig Stephens, founder of Access IPOs, a podcast for retail investors, said the retail buyers are creating “extraordinary demand,” which may differentiate the SpaceX IPO from others in which investors chased quick price jumps. He has requested several hundred shares himself.Sean McConnell, 47, has such a long view. He lives in Orlando, just 40 miles from Florida’s space coast and can see SpaceX liftoffs from his yard. McConnell, who works in commercial real estate, is planning to pump tens of thousands of dollars into SpaceX stock, anticipating the investment will pay off for himself and his two adolescent sons years from now. “It’s a generational business,” he said. “I see this as a position that I intend to hold for many, many years.” BLOOMBERG