SpaceX's website and its IPO marketing documentation could not be reached by users located in mainland China and in Hong Kong, according to a review of access attempts. The outage comes as the company launches marketing efforts for a proposed U.S. initial public offering that aims to raise $75 billion and would value the firm at $1.75 trillion, a level that would place it among the top 10 most valuable U.S.-listed companies.
The company began its marketing roadshows in New York on Thursday, and posted IPO papers to its website. Those materials were available to users in most major Asian markets, but attempts to open the site from mainland China and from Hong Kong returned an access error for both institutional and retail users, the review showed. Investors typically consult IPO marketing materials to assess business and financial details before deciding whether to participate in a new issue.
Attempts to view the site from the two locations produced an "Error 1009" message. Web security provider Cloudflare has described that error as most commonly arising when the website owner has blocked a country or region tied to the IP address trying to connect. Francis Fong, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said such a block is usually implemented by the company that runs the site. He also noted that while Hong Kong users have in past years sometimes been unable to reach some U.S. government websites, it is uncommon for major commercial companies to be inaccessible in this way.
Checks could not establish why or for how long SpaceX's site and the IPO filings were restricted in mainland China and Hong Kong. Representatives for SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment outside standard U.S. working hours. Spokespeople for the IPO's lead managers - Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley - also did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The roadshow presentation lists several Asia-Pacific managers involved in the listing, including Japan's Mizuho and Macquarie Capital in Australia. The listing has attracted global attention because of the proposed fundraising amount and the implied valuation, which market participants have noted could make the transaction one of the largest public listings ever.
The founder of the company is widely known in mainland China, where the success of his electric vehicle business has made him a prominent foreign business figure. Earlier in the year, two Democratic U.S. senators requested that the Pentagon review SpaceX amid accusations that Chinese investors had covertly obtained stakes in the closely held rocket maker, citing potential national security concerns.
Context and market implications
The inability of investors in mainland China and Hong Kong to access SpaceX's website and IPO materials creates a practical barrier to those markets' participation in the offering. Institutional and retail investors often rely on issuer-provided marketing documents to perform due diligence on a candidate for public listing. With the IPO marketing materials unavailable in these two markets, parties there may have reduced ability to evaluate the offering directly from company-published sources.
At the same time, the precise reason for the restriction remains unresolved. The presence of an "Error 1009" suggests a geo-block at the server or website-owner level, but without confirmation from the company it is not possible to determine whether the restriction was intentional, temporary, or the result of a technical or policy decision.
What remains uncertain
Key open questions include when the block began, whether it affects other content areas on the company's public website, and whether the restriction will be lifted ahead of investor meetings and the broader marketing process. Company and bank representatives were not available to clarify these matters outside U.S. working hours.
These uncertainties come as the company prepares a high-profile U.S. listing and amid earlier political scrutiny in Washington tied to reported concerns about foreign investors' holdings in the business.