CFO: Tesla Capex Will Grow in ‘Next Two to Three Years’ From ’26 Forecast of $25B
Tesla Inc.’s plans to launch mass production of its robotaxis and Optimus humanoid robots while also building semiconductors and solar panels and ramp up artificial intelligence infrastructure means its massive capital spending push will last at least into 2029, CFO Vaibhav Taneja said July 22.
Speaking to analysts and investors after Tesla reported second-quarter results, CEO Elon Musk and Taneja said they’re focused on investing efficiently while also not losing time in pursuing their many priorities. Tesla’s capex totaled $5.8 billion in the second quarter and will accelerate in the second half. For the year, spending will top $25 billion, some $5 billion more than it was in 2024 and 2025 combined.
On a conference call, Taneja said the big goals Tesla is aiming for around autonomous transportation and robotics “requires making bold bets” and added that capex “will grow for the next two to three years” as the company pushes ahead. Musk said he’s happy with that pace of investment.
“We should be spending on capex as fast as we can spend, as fast as we can without it being too wasteful,” Musk said. “We’re not trying to aim for some extremely high-efficiency capital spend because that would slow things down. So it’s a balance between how much […] capital efficiency versus time.”
Tesla’s surging spending to boost its production of cars, robots, batteries, AI software, chips and more contributed to its weaker Q2 financial results. The Austin-based company reported a net profit of more than $1.1 billion on revenues of $28.2 billion during the three months that ended June 30. But the bottom line was buoyed by a $1 billion unrealized gain on its investment in Musk’s newly public SpaceX, and operating profits fell to $398 million from $923 million in the same period of 2025.
Revenues from the company’s automotive operations rose 23% year over year to more than $20.5 billion but the division’s average vehicle selling price dipped and its costs climbed slightly faster to nearly $17.1 billion. Adjusted free cash flow was a negative $1.1 billion versus $1.4 billion in the first quarter and $146 million in Q2 of last year.
Looking ahead to the next few months, Musk and his team highlighted a few targets:
- Word of where Terafab, a semiconductor joint venture with SpaceX and Intel, will be located is coming soon, with Musk saying the news should “have its own sort of day in the spotlight and not be sort of squeezed into an earnings call”
- Full production of Semi heavy-duty trucks started recently and Megapack 3 battery storage units are still on schedule for production later this year
- Similarly, production lines for Optimus robots are being installed in Fremont, California, with a goal of launching production before year’s end
Investors didn’t like the sound of billions more in spending: Shares of Tesla (Ticker: TSLA) were down more than 14% to about $321 in afternoon trading July 23, a move that wiped out more than $160 billion in market capitalization. Year to date, Tesla is now down nearly 30% and its value is now roughly $1.2 trillion.
About the Author
Geert De Lombaerde
Senior Editor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde has been in business journalism since the mid-1990s and writes about public companies, markets and economic trends for Endeavor Business Media publications, focusing on IndustryWeek, FleetOwner, Oil & Gas Journal, T&D World and Healthcare Innovation. He also curates the twice-monthly Market Moves Strategy newsletter that showcases Endeavor stories on strategy, leadership and investment and contributes to other Market Moves newsletters.
With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati in 1997, initially covering retail and the courts before shifting to banking, insurance and investing. He later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal before being named editor of the Nashville Post in early 2008. He led a team that helped grow the Post's online traffic more than fivefold before joining Endeavor in September 2021.