SpaceX has had a freakishly good year. Let's dig in.

SpaceX has had a freakishly good year. Let's dig in. When it comes to launch velocity, SpaceX isn't just a player. They're running the game. Let's break down the total launches across the globe in 2025 by nation state. The dark blue lines, that's the United States. The red ones, China. Gray, every other nation in the world. The light blue though, that's just SpaceX. By early December, SpaceX has flown 160 orbital missions. That's 90% of U.S. launches this year and more than half of every orbital attempt on Earth in 2025. This one company has the same launch cadence as the entire rest of the world combined. How is that even possible? The answer is SpaceX isn't just a rocket company. It's secretly one of the world's fastest growing telecoms. Enter Starlink. Here's Starlink's revenue curve over the last five years, from a $200 million side project in 2020 to a $10 billion revenue line this year. That's the kind of growth curve investors swoon over. If Starlink were a standalone telecom, it would already be one of the largest satellite operators in history. Now looking up at the constellation, there were only a few dozen satellites in 2019. Now there are 8,000. And it's not just a static network either. SpaceX is constantly replacing older satellites with newer high bandwidth versions. Every upgrade cycle makes the network faster, more resilient, and more competitive. Here's the part though that most people miss. Starlink only works because SpaceX can launch cheaply and constantly. And SpaceX can only launch cheaply and constantly because of Starlink. It's a flywheel. Cheap, frequent launches of reusable rockets enable a stronger satellite network which generates billions in revenue, which funds more R&D and Starship development, which lowers launch costs even further, enabling more rocket launches. Starlink feeds the rockets, the rockets feed Starlink, and together their lead is compounding. Let's see what 2026 brings.