Tesla has deepened its ties with SpaceX, a commercial space flight company led by Elon Musk, with a new $2 billion investment. This investment was revealed in Tesla’s quarterly earnings report, which included a $2 billion charge due to its “SpaceX equity investment.”
Investment and Collaboration
The collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX is part of a larger effort to expand Tesla’s manufacturing scope to include semiconductor fabrication. This move aims to ensure a sufficient and resilient chip supply, which is crucial for the company’s growth. The partnership between Tesla and SpaceX will help build the largest chip fab ever, integrating logic, memory, and advanced packaging.
According to Tesla, the demand for chips is expected to increase, exceeding the existing industry capacity. The company is taking steps to address this challenge by expanding its manufacturing capabilities.
Tesla’s Earnings Call
Tesla reported stronger-than-anticipated earnings, with a revenue of $22.71 billion in the first quarter of 2026. This represents a 16% year-over-year increase and exceeds the analyst consensus of $22.39 billion. The company’s earnings per share of 41 cents also beat market estimates of 37 cents per share.
During the earnings call, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla vehicles equipped with the Hardware 3 (HW3) chip would not achieve Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD). However, Musk offered discounted trade-ins for HW3 vehicle owners and touted the idea of setting up “mini” factories to fit HW3 vehicles with HW4 and better cameras.
Elon Musk’s Optimus Update
Musk also provided an update on the next generation of Optimus robots, stating that Tesla’s rivals are copying the company’s innovations. Musk accused rivals of conducting “frame-by-frame” analyses of Optimus’ reveals and then copying what Tesla has done. He shared that a reveal timeline close to production could be expected for the next generation of Optimus robots.
Price Action
Tesla’s stock declined 2.17% to $377.95 during pre-market trading on Thursday. The company’s satisfactory Momentum and poor Value ratings, according to Benzinga Edge Rankings, suggest a favorable price trend in the long term.
Key Takeaways
- Tesla has invested $2 billion in SpaceX, deepening their collaboration.
- The partnership will help build the largest chip fab ever, integrating logic, memory, and advanced packaging.
- Tesla reported stronger-than-anticipated earnings, with a revenue of $22.71 billion in the first quarter of 2026.
- Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla vehicles equipped with the HW3 chip would not achieve Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
- Musk provided an update on the next generation of Optimus robots, stating that Tesla’s rivals are copying the company’s innovations.