SpaceX shares have fallen nearly 23% since the company joined the Nasdaq-100, with Friday's 5.43% decline following a Starship test abort caused by an engine ignition failure. The stock has now logged losses in nine of the last 10 trading sessions.
SpaceX shares have tumbled nearly 23% since the company was added to the Nasdaq-100, with a failed Starship test flight on Thursday deepening a slide that has now stretched across six consecutive sessions.
Friday's decline of 5.43% capped what has become a painful stretch for the newly public aerospace and artificial intelligence company, which has posted losses in nine of the last 10 trading days.
The proximate cause of Friday's drop was an aborted Starship launch the evening prior. SpaceX had set a 90-minute launch window beginning at 5:45 p.m. local time in Texas on Thursday, but an engine ignition failure forced the company to call off the attempt before liftoff.
"Some of the engines didn't start, triggering an automatic launch abort," founder Elon Musk wrote in a post on X. "Now offloading propellant. Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days."
Musk subsequently posted that two Raptor engines would be removed and replaced, and indicated a new launch attempt was planned for early the following week.
The scrubbed test was to have been the first flight of Starship V3 since SpaceX's blockbuster initial public offering in June, when the company raised $85.7 billion — the largest IPO on record — pricing shares at $135. The Nasdaq fast-tracked its inclusion in the index, admitting SpaceX after just 15 trading days, well short of the months-long waiting period that had previously applied.
Thursday's abort is the second high-profile Starship setback in recent months. A May attempt sent the rocket's upper stage toward the Indian Ocean after five of the Super Heavy booster's 33 Raptor engines failed to reignite, preventing a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration launched an investigation into that mishap and cleared the company to resume test trials on Monday.
SpaceX's stock woes unfolded against a broader market backdrop that has turned turbulent for technology and semiconductor names. The iShares Semiconductor ETF pulled back more than 10% for the week ending July 17, while the VanEck Semiconductor ETF slid nearly 9%, as investors reassessed the pace of artificial intelligence infrastructure spending.
The market-cap race at the top of the equity universe also shifted during the week. Apple briefly surpassed Nvidia on Friday to claim the title of the world's most valuable company, with Apple's market value touching approximately $4.88 trillion while Nvidia's dipped to $4.84 trillion during early morning trading. The two later reversed positions, and Nvidia closed slightly ahead. Nvidia has held the top spot since June 2025, when it surpassed Microsoft.
Apple has gained nearly 23% in 2026 on the strength of its AI product pipeline and what analysts have described as a capital-light spending approach, while Nvidia has risen approximately 9% year to date as Wall Street's attention has shifted toward memory chips and data center infrastructure. HSBC upgraded Apple to a buy rating this week, citing the company's new AI capabilities and product pipeline.
With the second-quarter earnings season now underway, investors will be watching closely for signals on AI spending durability. Alphabet is set to report results next week as the first of the major hyperscalers to do so, and analysts expect the company to announce another increase in capital expenditure guidance. Mark Mahaney, who leads Evercore's internet research team, said he expects Alphabet could raise its capex guidance to approximately $300 billion for next year — potentially in a range of $275 billion to $325 billion — though he also said he does not expect the company to issue a specific figure.
"People are looking for positive AI data points," Mahaney said. "I think they're going to get them."
For SpaceX, the more immediate question is whether a successful Starship test early next week can arrest the stock's slide — and whether investors who came in at the $135 IPO price will regain confidence in the company's launch cadence as it operates for the first time under the scrutiny of public markets.
Marc Sabatini is a staff writer at TechEchelon covering enterprise software, cybersecurity, and the regulatory beats that shape both. He focuses on the deal flow and policy decisions that move markets.
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