Can Vanguard's VOX Handle a 20% SpaceX Weight?

Over a two-month span, the Vanguard Communication Services ETF (VOX) has raised its stake in Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) by 85.2%. When SpaceX's shares are fully unlocked, that position could in time reach one-fifth of the fund's assets — a 20% weighting.

As of June 30, VOX held 632,077 SpaceX (SPCX) shares; that figure climbed to 1,170,398 by Aug. 31. SpaceX has become the fund's eighth-largest holding, although Vanguard hasn't specified the exact share of VOX it occupies.

Is VOX's Rising SpaceX Stake a Hidden Risk?

SpaceX made its Nasdaq debut on June 12, 2026, with just about 5% of its shares open to trading. Each further release of locked shares has widened that float and, in turn, increased SpaceX's clout within float-based indexes.

The Nasdaq-100 computes a weighting for SpaceX as a multiple of its float, not its entire market capitalization. That formula persists until the float gets big enough. With each unlock, the float expands, boosting SpaceX's index weight.

VOX has used that mechanism more boldly than its Vanguard counterparts, which have kept their SpaceX exposure minimal.

Is a Payoff Bound to Arrive?

SpaceX has yet to enter the top 50 holdings of the Vanguard Growth ETF, and it ranks beyond the top 100 in the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF. In the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF, it sits outside the 200 largest positions.

Vanguard categories it purely as a communications stock, so its entire index weight lands inside VOX.

Alphabet and Meta Platforms already amount to 42.4% of the fund. With a fully weighted SpaceX, the three biggest holdings could together represent more than half of VOX's portfolio.

Investors have already seen this kind of move when a Starship milestone pushed the stock up 6% in a single session.

How much of a still-volatile, recently listed stock should one sector fund carry?

The bet pays off for VOX if SpaceX keeps performing, but returns increasingly rest on a company that has just gone public. That risk is added on top of an already hefty allocation to Alphabet and Meta.

The concentration is expected to fade once SpaceX's float grows enough to qualify for benchmarks like the S&P 500, possibly as soon as summer 2027.