State-backed Chinese satellite company Spacesail reached 200 satellites in orbit on June 5, days before SpaceX's $1.8 trillion public listing on June 12 — the largest IPO to date — in what analysts describe as a deliberate push into markets where Starlink has faced political, regulatory, or service difficulties. Spacesail has secured partnerships in Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand, and Kazakhstan, and struck a deal with Airbus to feature its network on in-flight Wi-Fi platforms, as it races to expand its constellation to 15,000 satellites by 2030. While SpaceX's Starlink still dominates global satellite internet with over 10 million customers across 100 countries, experts note that Spacesail's model — combining Chinese state financing with government-level deals in non-Western markets — mirrors the playbook used by electric carmaker BYD against Tesla, though satellite internet has a notoriously poor track record for profitability outside of Starlink itself.