Musk Makes Tesla–SpaceX Merger Review Official

Elon Musk has officially confirmed merger discussions between Tesla and SpaceX. On the 20th (local time), during SpaceX's third-quarter earnings conference call, Musk said a merger of the two companies would be a "good idea." While noting that the merits, drawbacks, and obstacles of a merger are "a problem like tap-dancing in a minefield, so I have to answer carefully," he said that if pressed for an answer, it would be "yes." He added that "with superintelligence having entered a singularity, there are significant advantages to combining the two companies." At shareholders' request, the two companies have each formed special committees composed of independent directors.

Musk emphasized that a merger would allow expanded collaboration across AI software, semiconductors, robotics, and satellite communications. The vision is to combine Tesla's electric vehicle, energy, and robotics businesses with SpaceX's launch vehicles, satellite internet, and AI infrastructure under one company. The two companies' market capitalizations stand at roughly $2 trillion for SpaceX and $1.5 trillion for Tesla — a combined total of about $3.5 trillion, which would surpass Amazon to rank fifth in global market capitalization.

SpaceX's AI business is growing rapidly. Third-quarter revenue disclosed that day came to $14.575 billion, up 161% year over year, while net profit turned positive at $4.404 billion. Revenue from its superintelligence (SI) division, which handles AI, surged 830% to $7.56 billion, accounting for more than half of total revenue.