Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed today during the company’s Q1 2025 Earnings Call that his time allocation to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will drop “significantly,” as he will now turn more of his attention back to the automaker.

“I believe the right thing to do is to fight the waste and fraud and get the country back on track…I think it’s critical work,” Musk said on the call, before stating that his time allocation to DOGE would drop back considerably in May.

Musk said that just one or two days per week would be spent tending to government affairs. The remainder of his time will be dedicated to Tesla’s efforts, which, in the near term, include the launch of the Cybercab, a Robotaxi platform in Austin, and several affordable models that will be available in the first half of the year.

🚨 BREAKING: Elon Musk announces his work with DOGE “mostly done”:

“I believe the right thing to do is to fight the waste and fraud and get the country back on track…I think it’s critical work.”

He confirms that his time allocation to DOGE will drop “significantly,” but does… pic.twitter.com/KmUrETGIwA

— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2025

Musk clarified that he would likely remain on the DOGE team for the remainder of President Trump’s term, but he will be significantly less focused on the government, and more attention will be spent toward Tesla.

It’s a big sigh of relief for Tesla investors and analysts, as many, including Wedbush’s Dan Ives, said that a move needed to be made or the company could continue to feel the significant ramifications of Musk’s lack of attention.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

During a recent investor call, Elon Musk reportedly hinted at a major valuation adjustment for his artificial intelligence startup, with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO stating that he was looking to put a “proper value” on xAI.

The report was initially shared by CNBC’s David Faber during a segment on the Faber Report.

Investor Call Sparks Speculation

Citing sources who were reportedly involved in the call, Faber noted that while Musk did not specifically state that he was looking to initiate another funding round, his comments about a “proper valuation” for xAI were interpreted by Faber’s sources that xAI may be setting the stage for a notable capital raise in the near future.

“Let me give you some takeaways from the call itself. It was with a number of the companies, the investors in xAI going over a number of important things, that included the closing of the X transaction… Remember, xAI and X are now one company valuing X at $33 billion going in. xAI had a value of as much as $80 billion.

“What I’ve heard is the company is setting up for another capital raise of great significance… But on the call, Musk is quoted as having said, ‘We’re going to put a proper value on the company in reference to xAI,’ and people took that to mean, and again this is speculation, that they will have a large raise,” Faber stated. 

xAI’s Growth and Ambitions

Launched in July 2023, xAI introduced its Grok chatbot to challenge Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In March, Musk merged xAI with X. “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” Musk wrote on X. “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent.” 

The merger leverages X’s data to train Grok, boosting xAI’s competitive edge. xAI has also made a lot of headway in the artificial intelligence space, thanks in part to its speed, which allowed it to set up Colossus, a supercomputer cluster comprised of 100,000 GPUs, in just 122 days. Colossus has since been expanded to 200,000 GPUs, and plans are underway to expand the supercomputer even further.

According to Wedbush, Tesla is sitting at a “crossroads” as it nears its Q1 2025 Earnings Call on Tuesday.

Although the company’s Earnings Calls have been primarily focused on the financials and accomplishments of the past quarter, Tesla is approaching this one differently.

Tesla has even said that this Earnings Call will feature a “company update,” and as most believe it will detail plans for future models and production timelines, others have different expectations and beliefs over what could be said.

Tesla still on track to release more affordable models in 1H25

Wedbush’s Dan Ives believes Tesla is at a crossroads and outlined his six biggest concerns for the company since CEO Elon Musk took on a role within the White House at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE):

1. Tesla has now unfortunately become a political symbol globally of the Trump Administration/DOGE
2. Tesla’s stock has been crushed since Trump stepped back into the White House
3. Brand damage to Musk/Tesla resulted in a terrible 1Q delivery number, with much lower 2025 deliveries on the horizon
4. Protests and violence against Tesla dealerships/owners have erupted around the globe
5. 25% auto tariffs have been enacted, delaying future lower-cost models for Tesla, even though Musk is vocally against the tariffs for obvious reasons
6. Potentially 15%-20% permanent demand destruction for future Tesla buyers due to the brand damage Musk has created with DOGE

Ives has held onto the idea that Musk’s involvement has made Tesla synonymous with the Trump administration, but that only seems to be true for those who share ideologies that oppose what the White House is doing.

Others are able to differentiate between the two, noting that Tesla is not a Trump organization, and vice versa.

Of course, there are negative sides to Musk splitting his time between the two and having ties to the President. Politically, it is hard to appease everyone.

Despite this, Wedbush’s Ives said the firm still remains bullish on Tesla:

“So why stay bullish? It’s a great question. We believe Tesla along with Nvidia are two of the most disruptive technology companies on the globe over the coming years. The unparalleled innovation, engineering scale, autonomous roadmap, and robotics future will unleash massive valuation upside over the coming years in our view. BUT….Musk needs to leave the government, take a major step back on DOGE, and get back to being CEO of Tesla full-time. Tesla is Musk and Musk is Tesla….and anyone that thinks the brand damage Musk has inflicted is not a real thing….spend some time speaking to car buyers in the US, Europe, and Asia…you will think differently after those discussions.”

Ives said that Musk needs to lay out the timing and rollout plans for the unsupervised Full Self-Driving and for the affordable vehicle platform, which was set for release in the first half of the year.