Better Buy: SpaceX or Nvidia?

Much of the hype surrounding Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX), better known as SpaceX, has died off in the weeks since its initial public offering (IPO). Though it still carries a $1.6 trillion market cap, which is good enough to rank it among the world's 10 largest companies, its stock now trades well below where it IPOed, and some investors may be wondering if it's smart to buy the dip.

As a comparison, I'm choosing the stalwart of the AI build-out: Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), a megacap that has strong growth and is actually priced at a reasonable level. If SpaceX can outperform Nvidia in several categories, it will speak to how good an investment it is.

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Let's consider which is the better buy for your portfolio now.

SpaceX's business is broader than Nvidia's

Nvidia makes powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) that are mostly getting scooped up for new data centers. While the chipmaker has developed a major product ecosystem around these computing units and is breaking into different computing industries, its focus remains on parallel processors for data centers.

On the flip side, SpaceX has a broader business. While its space exploration and payload delivery business are what most investors recognize, its biggest and most profitable unit is its Starlink satellite broadband service. Additionally, SpaceX also owns xAI. This gives it exposure to the AI build-out through xAI, the maker of the Grok large language model (LLM) and the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter. So, SpaceX could also be viewed as a social media company.

That wide array of segments may make it too broad a business in some ways. But it also offers it the potential to be a bit more stable than Nvidia. Should anything happen that slows down investment in AI infrastructure, Nvidia could be in a world of trouble, while SpaceX would feel less pain. As a result, I'm giving the business category win to SpaceX.

Winner: SpaceX

Nvidia's growth is hard to keep up with

SpaceX hasn't reported any 2026 growth figures yet, so we have to measure it based on last year's growth rates. In 2025, its xAI division grew at a 22% pace, its connectivity division's revenues increased at a 50% rate, and the space division only grew at an 8% clip. Overall, that equated to a 33% growth rate. While that's a strong and growing company, it doesn't hold a candle to Nvidia's growth.