Best UK space stocks to watch as SpaceX IPO Soars

SpaceX IPO in brief

SpaceX has finally launched its historic IPO under ticker SPCX on the Nasdaq. Arguably the most important company in the history of commercial spaceflight has just become a publicly traded stock.

The numbers were staggering: a $1.75 trillion target valuation, shares at $135 apiece, $75 billion being raised across 555 million shares and a retail allocation of roughly 30% (triple the industry norm). Now at $185 a share after peaking at $225, the stock remains volatile. 

For context, Saudi Aramco's 2019 IPO raised $25.6 billion and held the record for the largest public offering in history. SpaceX is nearly three times that size. The company behind it needs little introduction: more rocket launches annually than the rest of the world combined, over nine million Starlink subscribers and a business generating billions in revenue. 

While there are concerns the IPO may be overpriced (and big tech IPOs have a history of falling below IPO prices), the market perhaps finally catching up with the concept of the commercial exploitation of space.

For UK investors, the significance goes beyond the spectacle — Britain has built one of the world's more credible space ecosystems, and the stocks that sit within it are about to get a great deal more attention. For everything you need to know about the listing itself, see our dedicated SpaceX IPO guide. For broader context on the space investment theme, see our space stocks and ETFs guide.

Space-related UK investment trusts

UK investment trusts offer retail investors safe, diversified entry into the space economy. By avoiding the high risks of individual stock picking, these managed funds provide stable, indirect sector exposure.

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust

If you want SpaceX exposure without buying the IPO, Scottish Mortgage may be the answer. The Edinburgh-based trust, managed by Baillie Gifford, has held a significant position in SpaceX as a private company for years, making it the closest thing the London Stock Exchange has ever had to a de facto SpaceX proxy.

Today is arguably the most important day in SMT's recent history as the market can now begin to put a public number on a key asset that underpins much of the trust's long-term thesis. Scottish Mortgage trades at a discount to its net asset value, meaning investors have historically been able to buy a pound's worth of underlying assets for less than a pound.

If SpaceX IPOs into strength, that discount could narrow. Beyond SpaceX, SMT holds a constellation of high-growth technology and life sciences companies, but the space giant may well dominate the narrative in 2026. For UK retail investors seeking broad, managed exposure to the new space economy without buying the IPO directly, Scottish Mortgage is the most established route available on the LSE. 

Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust

Edinburgh Worldwide is Scottish Mortgage's smaller, more concentrated sibling, but with a sharper focus on early-stage, innovative companies with global ambitions.

The trust has a history of backing businesses at the frontier of deep technology, including space and orbital infrastructure. While less publicly associated with SpaceX than SMT, EWI's portfolio philosophy makes it a natural beneficiary of the sentiment shift now sweeping the sector.

When a market-defining IPO like SpaceX goes public, it doesn't just move the share price of one company; it reprices the entire investment category. Venture-focused investment trusts like EWI tend to see their discounts compress as investor appetite for high-growth, frontier technology sharpens.

EWI has traded at a deep discount for some time, which means the current moment — when mainstream attention is swinging towards space — could represent a tailwind.

Seraphim Space Investment Trust

Seraphim Space is the purest play on the new space economy available on the London Stock Exchange, and arguably the most direct beneficiary of the IPO euphoria now building around the sector.

Managed by Seraphim Capital — the UK's leading dedicated space venture fund — SSIT holds a portfolio of early and growth-stage space technology companies spanning launch, satellite communications, Earth observation and in-orbit services.

Unlike SMT or EWI, Seraphim's mandate is exclusively space: every portfolio company it holds is building something that operates at, above, or in service of the orbital economy. The trust has faced significant headwinds since its 2021 IPO, trading at a persistent and sometimes painful discount to NAV as risk appetite for venture-stage assets dried up in a rising rate environment.

But these may be yesterday's dynamics. A successful SpaceX listing would provide the entire sector with a public benchmark; a yardstick against which every private space company's valuation can be measured and, in many cases, justified. For SSIT, this could be the catalyst it's been waiting for.

UK space hardware stocks

UK-listed space hardware stocks offer exposure to the critical engineering that makes the orbital economy function. Potentially, the real long-term space narrative could unfold in the supply chains, component manufacturers and design houses that underpin the more famous names.

Filtronic

Filtronic is one of the most well-known UK stocks in the entire space ecosystem, and it remains perhaps underappreciated outside of specialist circles.

The Sedgefield-based company designs and manufactures advanced RF (radio frequency) and microwave components used in satellite communications, defence systems and LEO (low Earth orbit) satellite constellations.

Filtronic has a publicly disclosed supply relationship with SpaceX, providing E-band solid-state power amplifiers for Starlink terminals. That's not a peripheral involvement as it puts Filtronic at the physical hardware layer of the world's largest commercial satellite network, right as that network's parent company goes public at a $1.75 trillion valuation.

For UK investors, this is as close to a direct supply-chain beneficiary as exists on domestic exchanges. As Starlink continues its global rollout — now serving over nine million subscribers — the demand for Filtronic's components is structurally linked to one of the fastest-growing technology businesses on the planet.

Small-cap AIM stocks are typically higher risk than larger peers, and Filtronic is no exception, but the fundamental story here is unusually clear-cut. Today's IPO puts a spotlight on every company in the Starlink supply chain, and Filtronic is near the top of that list.

CML Microsystems

CML Microsystems is a specialist semiconductor company based in Colchester, designing integrated circuits for radio communications and data storage applications.

While CML is less directly tied to the space sector than Filtronic, its expertise in high-performance RF ICs positions it within the broader ecosystem of components that underpin satellite communication ground systems. The company has built a reputation for reliability in mission-critical communications environments — think defence, emergency services and professional radio — qualities that translate naturally to the demands of space-grade hardware.

CML is a very small company, which means it operates below most institutional radars, but this means it could also be the kind of stock that can move meaningfully when a major sector re-rating draws new money into the ecosystem. 

The rising tide of investor interest that a landmark SpaceX IPO generates tends to flow eventually into the underlying supply chains and component manufacturers, and CML's deep RF expertise could make it a speculative beneficiary of that dynamic.

EnSilica

EnSilica is a UK-based ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) designer serving customers in the satellite, defence, automotive and industrial sectors. The company designs custom chips to order, working with clients who need silicon tailored to demanding, non-standard specifications — in other words, the kind of customer that dominates the commercial space sector.

What makes EnSilica particularly interesting in the current environment is the structural shift underway in satellite hardware procurement. As LEO constellations scale from dozens to thousands of satellites, operators increasingly need chips designed to precise power, size and radiation-tolerance requirements that off-the-shelf solutions cannot meet.

EnSilica's model is built for this need. The company listed on AIM in 2022 and has been building its space credentials steadily since. It won't be the first name on most investors' lips as SpaceX goes public, but for those willing to look a level deeper into the UK semiconductor ecosystem supporting the orbital economy, ENSI may offer a differentiated proposition with a long potential runway.

AAC Clyde Space

AAC Clyde Space is perhaps the most symbolically important company on this watchlist for anyone who wants to understand the depth of the UK's role in the modern space industry.

Clyde Space was founded in Glasgow in 2005, growing to become one of the world's most respected manufacturers of small satellites and satellite subsystems. It merged with Swedish group AAC Microtec in 2019 to form AAC Clyde Space, which is now listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange.

The Glasgow operation remains the beating heart of the company's satellite manufacturing capability. AAC Clyde Space designs, builds and operates nanosatellites and microsatellites for commercial, institutional and government customers across Earth observation, telecommunications, and technology demonstration missions.

In a world where the SpaceX IPO is attempting to make space the defining investment theme of 2026, AAC Clyde Space is a company that's actually building the small satellites that populate the constellations underpinning that theme.

UK investors should note that investing in AACM requires access to Swedish-listed equities.

UK defence and space infrastructure stocks

UK defence and space infrastructure stocks are unlike the high-beta volatility of venture-stage space pure-plays. These established, diversified firms benefit from the massive, long-term capital expenditure cycles of sovereign nations and NATO-aligned defence strategies.

BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the FTSE 100 bedrock of British aerospace and defence, and while it sits at the more established end of this watchlist, its role in the space economy is larger and more sophisticated than casual observers might assume.

BAE has significant involvement in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites, electronic warfare systems designed for contested orbital environments, and the broader defence infrastructure that underpins both NATO's space capabilities and the UK's own Space Command ambitions.

As commercial space scales — and as the SpaceX IPO accelerates the militarisation and commercialisation of orbital infrastructure — the demand for BAE's capabilities in secure communications, satellite resilience and space situational awareness may continue to grow. 

BAE is also a major beneficiary of increased UK and European defence spending, a trend that has its own powerful momentum independent of the IPO cycle.

QinetiQ Group

QinetiQ is one of the more influential companies in the UK's defence and technology ecosystem. Spun out of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 2001, QinetiQ provides test, evaluation and advisory services to governments and defence organisations globally, with a growing presence in space domain awareness and satellite testing.

As sovereign nations race to establish credible space capabilities — both offensive and defensive — QinetiQ's role as a trusted, security-cleared provider of space domain expertise is becoming increasingly strategic.

The company has been investing in its space capabilities methodically, and the broader context of the SpaceX IPO, which will accelerate both commercial and government interest in orbital infrastructure, plays directly to QinetiQ's competitive positioning.

For UK investors, QinetiQ potentially occupies a useful middle ground as it has more direct space exposure than a pure defence prime, but carries the institutional credibility and cash-generative business model of a well-established government contractor.

Serco Group

Serco is a global services company with deep roots in government and defence contracting, and its relevance to the space economy is perhaps the least obvious of the stocks on this list.

Serco operates a range of satellite ground control and tracking facilities, including work supporting the European Space Agency, and its broader government services model means it is well positioned to benefit from the rapid expansion of sovereign space infrastructure investment now underway across the UK, Europe and allied nations.

As the commercial space sector grows, governments are spending more on the ground-based infrastructure — including tracking stations, launch range services and mission control — that supports it, and Serco is one of the most established operators in that ecosystem.

The SpaceX IPO could intensify the political and institutional appetite to invest in national space capability globally, and Serco, as a trusted delivery partner for government, stands to see its pipeline of space-adjacent contracts grow over the medium term.

Melrose Industries

Melrose Industries is primarily known as an industrial value-creation business — it acquires, improves and divests engineering companies — but its current primary asset, GKN Aerospace, is one of the world's leading aerospace structures manufacturers with significant involvement in both commercial aviation and space launch vehicle components.

GKN Aerospace supplies structural components, propulsion systems and thermal management solutions to a range of aerospace programmes, and as the launch vehicle market expands on the back of the commercial space boom, Melrose's aerospace division could find itself increasingly relevant to the new space supply chain.

It is a more indirect route into the sector than the hardware specialists or investment trusts on this list, but Melrose brings scale, engineering depth and a FTSE 100 credit rating that smaller space stocks cannot match.

UK space data stocks

Spire Global

Spire Global is the data company at the heart of the commercial satellite economy, and like AAC Clyde Space, it maintains one of its most important operational bases in Glasgow, Scotland.

Spire operates a constellation of over 100 multipurpose LEO nanosatellites that collect data used for weather forecasting, maritime tracking, aviation monitoring and radio occultation science. It then sells that data and the analytics built on top of it to governments, shipping companies, airlines, insurers and financial institutions — a recurring, subscription-based revenue model that sits at the software end of the space economy rather than the hardware end.

Spire is listed on the NYSE and is therefore directly accessible within the same US brokerage accounts that will be used to trade SpaceX today. You can buy Spire Global and other US-listed space stocks through our share dealing account or stocks and shares ISA with £0 commission on US shares. 

The company's Glasgow operations represent a significant UK contribution to what is now a publicly traded American space data business, and Spire's business model of building and operating its own satellite infrastructure to generate proprietary data is hard to replicate.

UK space stocks summed up

• The SpaceX IPO is a sector re-rating event, not just a single stock listing. As the world's most valuable aerospace company goes public, it could reprice risk appetite across the entire orbital economy.
• Britain's space credentials are deeper than most investors realise. The UK has built revenue-generating industrial capability in the new space economy.
• The investment trust route offers a uniquely British entry point. Scottish Mortgage, Edinburgh Worldwide and Seraphim Space give UK retail investors managed, London-listed access to space sector growth at a time when several of these trusts trade at discounts to their underlying net asset values. 
• The supply chain story is only just beginning. As Starlink passes nine million subscribers and LEO constellations continue scaling toward their full operational size, the demand for the components, chips, data and ground infrastructure that companies like Filtronic, EnSilica and Spire Global provide is structurally growing.