Elon Musk hints Tesla and SpaceX could one day become one company
The Tesla CEO declined to dismiss the idea, pointing to expanding collaboration across AI, manufacturing and engineering.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday declined to rule out a future merger between the electric vehicle maker and his other trillion-dollar-plus company, SpaceX, citing growing operational overlap between the two businesses.
“As you can tell from the many collaborations on so many fronts with SpaceX, there’s more and more overlap,” Musk said during Tesla's earnings call.
“We can't talk about, you know, combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call," he added. "It’s got to be done with the appropriate process."
Investors and analysts have long speculated about the possibility of combining Musk’s electric vehicle and space companies, with the discussion intensifying during SpaceX's recent record IPO.
After making the remarks, Musk turned to Tesla General Counsel Brandon Ehrhart, who limited himself to describing SpaceX as a “great partner” that engages in “numerous beneficial transactions” with Tesla.
Gene Munster, managing partner at Tesla investor Deepwater Asset Management, said the call left him even more convinced that the companies would eventually merge.
“I would put the odds that these two will combine at 90% today,” he said in a video posted on social media. “If you had asked me yesterday, I would have said 80%.”
Tesla already supplies batteries and manufacturing technologies for some SpaceX projects, while the companies are also jointly developing Terafab, a semiconductor manufacturing facility designed to produce AI chips.
Supporters argue that combining the companies could simplify Musk’s corporate empire and create a more integrated business spanning artificial intelligence, robotics, manufacturing, energy and space infrastructure.
JPMorgan analysts said this month that “operational integration between the two entities is already deep,” citing shared engineering talent, AI infrastructure, Terafab, and Musk’s leadership as factors that “would facilitate an eventual combination.”
Stifel analysts struck an even more bullish tone, writing that “many investors consider it inevitable that Musk will move to combine SpaceX with Tesla, for them, the question is not if, but when.”
SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell has also acknowledged potential benefits. Speaking to CNBC in June, she said combining the companies “might make Elon’s life a little easier” by streamlining management across his businesses.
Others, however, caution that any transaction would face formidable obstacles. In the same research note, JPMorgan pointed to the “practical bottleneck” of obtaining regulatory approvals, particularly in China, where national security concerns surrounding SpaceX’s ties to the U.S. government could complicate the process.
Analysts also note that Musk controls a significantly larger voting stake in SpaceX than in Tesla, creating additional governance challenges for Tesla’s public shareholders.
