Offbeat<\/p>\n
Optimus remains ‘very complex’ and Robotaxis will try not to flatten your cat<\/p>\n
Tesla’s investment bill ballooned in calendar Q2 as Elon Musk’s biz entered what it calls its “largest and most exciting period of investment.<\/p>\n
The company has poured resources into AI silicon and robotics, with capex<\/a> [PDF] more than doubling from $2.5 billion in the previous quarter to $5.8 billion.<\/p>\n That left Tesla with negative free cash flow of $1.1 billion, down 848 percent year-on-year. It expects spending to keep rising and exceed $25 billion for the year.<\/p>\n During the earnings call, Musk talked up Tesla’s Terafab ambitions but gave little detail other than calling it an “amazing initiative” and confirming that equipment orders had been placed for the development fab in Austin. <\/p>\n “It’s intended to have lithography mask production, and then logic, memory and packaging, and chip testing all under one roof,” he said. “So you can have a very fast iterative cycle.” Musk acknowledged it was a “high-risk, high-payoff bet on AI chips.”<\/p>\n Musk said Terafab was essential to scaling Optimus because Tesla would otherwise be unable to secure enough AI chips, hence the prodigious expenditure.<\/p>\n As for Tesla’s automaker business, vehicle deliveries were up 25 percent year-on-year in Q2 to 480,126, and total automotive revenues surpassed $20 billion. However, operating margin fell to 1.4 percent from 4.1 percent a year ago.<\/p>\n