Hajra Naz
SpaceX says its Starlink satellite internet service has reached 9 million customers, just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark—capping off a year of rapid growth for Elon Musk’s space company.
In a post on X on Monday, SpaceX said Starlink is now serving more than 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The update suggests the service has added roughly one million customers in under seven weeks, averaging more than 20,000 new users a day.
Starlink’s expansion has been one of SpaceX’s biggest success stories. The company operates a network of more than 9,000 low-Earth orbit satellites, delivering broadband internet to both urban users and remote regions with limited connectivity options.
The pace of growth has accelerated sharply over the past year. In December 2024, SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers. By August 2025, that number had climbed to 7 million, and it has now jumped to 9 million in just over a month.
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Starlink has also become SpaceX’s main revenue engine. Earlier this month, Musk said the satellite internet business was “by far” the company’s largest source of income, underscoring how central it has become to SpaceX’s finances.
The surge in users is reflected in internet traffic data as well. Cloudflare, which manages web traffic for millions of websites, said global traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, highlighting the service’s growing footprint worldwide.
Beyond homes and businesses, Starlink is expanding into transportation. Around two dozen airlines have announced plans to offer Starlink-powered WiFi on flights, and SpaceX has hinted at launching its own mobile connectivity service using the satellite network.
The growth comes as SpaceX is reportedly preparing for a potential IPO next year, with some estimates valuing the company at up to $1.5 trillion. While SpaceX has not confirmed those plans publicly, Starlink’s momentum strengthens the case for taking the company public.
SpaceX has already reshaped the space industry by commercializing reusable rockets and becoming the world’s most active launch provider. It has also benefited from NASA and Pentagon efforts to rely more heavily on private companies while filling a massive gap in global internet access.
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Led by Musk, SpaceX is known for its demanding, efficiency-driven culture and long-term ambitions. Those ambitions stretch far beyond internet service, including plans to send humans to Mars and eventually deploy massive Starship rockets for missions ranging from space exploration to orbital infrastructure.
