Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) received a new Street-high price target from Wedbush’s Dan Ives today, who cited high hopes for the company’s prowess in the autonomous sector.

Ives boosted his price target from $500 to $600 today, reflecting the firm’s view that “an accelerated AI path for the company is now on the horizon and investors are underestimating the transformation underway at the company.”

In a new note written to investors on Friday, Ives cited that Tesla’s next stage of growth has arrived as Elon Musk has re-entered his role as a “wartime CEO,” which gives the company a huge advantage over its competitors.

Musk, when fully committed to Tesla, does his best work, and Ives believes the company’s mark on the autonomous sector will continue to expand with the help of the Trump White House.

He wrote:

“Musk is now driving Tesla into its next stage of growth as ‘wartime CEO,’ and we expect Robotaxis to be rolled out aggressively to over 30 US cities within the next year. We estimate the AI and autonomous opportunity is worth at least $1 trillion alone for Tesla, and we fully expect under a Trump White House over the coming yea,r these key initiatives will now get fast-tracked as the federal regulatory spiderweb that Musk & Co. have encountered over the past few years around FSD/autonomous clears significantly under Trump. Trump wants the US to stay ahead of China in this AI Arms Race, and autonomous is a key factor in who wins AI….with Tesla playing a major role on Robotaxis.”

Most of the note focused on the long-term outlook for Tesla, which is where some of the most drastic claims were made, including ones that estimated a monstrous valuation for the company moving forward.

Ives said Wedbush is under the impression that Tesla could reach a $2 trillion market cap as early as the beginning of 2026 and a $3 trillion valuation by the end of the year. This growth will be primarily driven by the AI portion of the company’s projects:

“We believe Tesla could reach a $2 trillion market cap early 2026 in a bull case scenario and $3 trillion by the end of 2026 as full-scale volume production begins of the autonomous and robotics roadmap. The AI valuation will start to get unlocked in the Tesla story, and we believe the march to an AI-driven valuation for TSLA over the next 6-9 months has now begun in our view with FSD and autonomous penetration of Tesla’s installed base and the acceleration of Cybercab in the US representing the golden goose for Musk & Co.”

In the near term, the only true issue at hand is deliveries, which Tesla should likely have a strong quarter thanks to the removal of the $7,500 EV tax credit. Ives says he expects a beat of Q3 numbers, driven by an “improving demand out of China.”

He also said that while he expects this quarter to be strong, Tesla should aim to return to a run-rate of 500,000 deliveries every quarter, equating to approximately 2 million units per year. This will be driven by new, more affordable models, with the tax credit going away:

“On the near-term delivery front we are seeing a stabilization of demand globally that should enable Tesla to beat the Street’s 3Q delivery number with improving demand out of China. Getting back to a ~500k quarterly run-rate will be important as Tesla now looks to introduce new models to its customer base in 2026. There continues to be weak pockets in Europe but we believe Tesla is now starting to see signs of improvement in demand with a stronger growth trajectory into 2026.”

Tesla shares are up over 1.7 percent so far today, trading at around $430.

Elon Musk once stated that no one ever changed the world working just 40 hours a week. This was something that is openly known among his companies. They have the potential to change the world, but they require a lot of hours.

SpaceX’s working environment was recently criticized by Chris Kemp, the chief executive officer of Astra. During some remarks at the Berkeley Space Symposium 2025 earlier this month, Kemp shared some sharp remarks about the Elon Musk-led private space enterprise.

SpaceX working conditions and Starbase

As noted in a report from Ars Technica, Kemp discussed a variety of topics during his talk. These included Astra’s successes and failures, as well as his thoughts on other players in the spaceflight industry. To be fair to Kemp, he practically shaded every major rival, calling Firefly’s engine “garbage,” dubbing Blue Origin as slow, and stating that Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is “too small.”

SpaceX also received some colorful words from the Astra CEO. According to Kemp, SpaceX is leading the way in the spaceflight industry and Elon Musk is admirable in the way that he is willing to fail in order to move quickly. He did, however, highlight that Astra offers a significantly better working environment than SpaceX.

“It’s more fun than SpaceX, because we’re not on the border of Mexico where they’ll chop your head off if you accidentally take a left turn. And you don’t have to live in a trailer. And we don’t make you work six and a half days a week, 12 hours a day. It’s appreciated if you do, but not required,” Kemp said.

Elon Musk’s demands

It is known that Elon Musk demands quite a lot from his employees. However, it is also known that Musk-led companies move very fast and, in more ways than one, they have accomplished world-changing feats. Tesla, for example, has practically ushered in the era of the modern electric vehicle, and SpaceX has made space attainable through its reusable rockets. With this in mind, employees at Musk’s companies, and this of course includes SpaceX, are likely proud of their long work hours. 

No one could probably go to Mars in this lifetime with a team that really works just 40 hours a week, after all.

Elon Musk has shared some context behind xAI’s lawsuit against rival OpenAI. News of the lawsuit emerged recently, with reports stating that Musk’s artificial intelligence startup was accusing OpenAI of systematically stealing trade secrets.

Musk shared his thoughts in a post on social media platform X. 

xAI’s lawsuit

As noted in a Reuters report, xAI’s lawsuit alleged that OpenAI poached xAI engineers, pressured them to share confidential information, and gained access to the company’s code, business plans, and data center details.

“OpenAI is targeting those individuals with knowledge of xAI’s key technologies and business plans—including xAI’s source code and its operational advantages in launching data centers—then inducing those employees to breach their confidentiality and other obligations to xAI through unlawful means.

“By hook or by crook, OpenAI clearly will do anything when threatened by a better innovator, including plundering and misappropriating the technical advancements, source code, and business plans of xAI,” the lawsuit read.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a legal complaint that xAI filed against Xuechen Li, a former xAI employee who left to work at OpenAI. The engineer was accused of stealing trade secrets. In its most recent filing, xAI also named “early xAI engineer” Jimmy Fraiture and a “senior finance executive” as persons of interest. 

Elon Musk’s comments

In his post on X, Elon Musk stated that xAI had been trying to communicate with OpenAI about the matter. However, the ChatGPT maker reportedly continued its illicit activities. “We sent them many warning letters, but they continued to cheat. Lawsuit was the only option after exhausting all others,” Musk wrote in his post.

OpenAI, for its part, claimed that xAI’s new lawsuit was just the latest in Elon Musk’s efforts to harass the company. “This new lawsuit is the latest chapter in Mr Musk’s ongoing harassment. We have no tolerance for any breaches of confidentiality, nor any interest in trade secrets from other labs,” an OpenAI spokesperson stated.

Elon Musk is one of the co-founders of OpenAI, and he also served as a key investor in the artificial intelligence startup when it was still operating purely as a nonprofit. Musk later departed the company, however, and he has since taken a very public stance against OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit entity, as well as the activities of its CEO, Sam Altman.