Investor's Corner
Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 is starting to attract the interest of China’s workforce
Tesla’s upcoming Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai appears to be attracting a lot of interest among China’s workers, with a recent recruitment day for the facility attracting a larger-than-expected number of applicants. Videos taken of the job fair show long lines of interested candidates waiting their turn to submit their applications for the factory.
Local media reports noted that Tesla’s job fair, which was held at the Lingang Industrial Zone, was initially set to end at 3:30 p.m. local time. To accommodate the number of candidates applying for a post in Gigafactory 3, though, Tesla ended up extending its hiring hours. Several applicants interviewed by local media also pointed out that they took the effort of traveling to Shanghai to apply for a job in the upcoming Tesla facility.
Update (Video) about:
Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory held a job fair in the Lingang Industrial Zone. As you can see from the video provided by Chinese media https://t.co/CmnfB7Cj1u ,huge amount candidates are interested to join $TSLA for GF3 development.#Tesla #China #TeslaChina pic.twitter.com/mSZxyf5S5w
— vincent (@vincent13031925) November 30, 2018
The warm reception to Tesla’s recent job fair in Shanghai bodes well for Gigafactory 3’s development. Tesla, after all, announced in its third-quarter vehicle delivery and production report that it is expediting the construction of the factory, which is expected to be capable of producing both battery packs and electric vehicles. In its report, Tesla noted that it expects Gigafactory 3’s buildout to be quick and efficient, particularly as the company would be applying the lessons it learned during the Model 3 production ramp on the facility.
Tesla’s business in China has been challenged this year due to additional import tariffs placed by the government against vehicles imported abroad. Despite this, though, Tesla’s brand has remained strong in the country, partly due to its reputation as the manufacturer of some of the most desirable electric vehicles in the market. Amidst China’s aggressive plan of adopting electric cars in its key cities, Tesla’s place as one of the first movers in the EV industry appears to be valued by the country as well.
The development and progress of Gigafactory 3 has been remarkable so far, thanks in part to the Chinese government’s support for the project. Over the past months, state media has run multiple segments about how the state fully supports the construction of the factory. This support became quite evident when China made the rare decision to allow Tesla to become the sole owner of Gigafactory 3. The electric car maker’s bid for the 864,885-square meter plot of land in Shanghai’s Lingang area went unchallenged by any rival bidders as well. Apart from these, low-interest loans from local banks were also secured quickly, with local news site Beijing Business Daily noting that around 30% of the facility’s funds have been ready since October.
China has agreed to reduce and remove tariffs on cars coming into China from the U.S. Currently the tariff is 40%.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2018
Apart from the apparent high interest among job applicants for Gigafactory 3, Tesla’s business would likely see a notable boost this quarter, thanks to changing headwinds in the ongoing US-China trade war. In a recent tweet, US President Donald Trump suggested that China has agreed to “reduce and remove” import tariffs on vehicles coming in from the United States. Considering that Tesla’s electric cars are weighed down by a 40% tariff, the reduction or removal of the duties would likely result in better Q4 figures.
Tesla has ambitious plans for Gigafactory 3, with the company aiming to produce up to 500,000 electric vehicles every year once construction is complete. Two of the company’s high-volume vehicles, the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y SUV, are expected to be produced in the upcoming facility, which would specifically cater to the Chinese market.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk gives his most telling Tesla-SpaceX merger conversation yet
Elon Musk hinted a Tesla-SpaceX merger could be coming, and Wall Street is taking notice.
Elon Musk gave his clearest signal yet that Tesla and SpaceX could eventually combine, telling the All-In Summit in Los Angeles that the two companies’ deepening collaboration makes the question worth asking. Sawyer Merritt first surfaced the highlight on X Tuesday.
Asked directly why Tesla and SpaceX remain separate given how closely they already work together, Musk told hosts at the summit: “Great question there. With all this collaboration, on so many levels, who can imagine what action one might take when there’s so much close collaboration in so many areas.” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who joined Musk on stage, added that SpaceX personnel have already moved into xAI to fill leadership and engineering gaps, saying the businesses are integrating “faster than I thought,” though “not fully integrated yet,”
The comments landed on top of merger speculation that has been building on Wall Street for months. JPMorgan has called a tie-up “strategically coherent on paper,” pointing to overlapping ambitions in AI, robotics, energy, transportation and space. Jefferies went further, estimating Musk could retain roughly 55.3 percent voting control in a deal structured without a premium, a scenario that would still leave room for Tesla shareholders to come out ahead. On Kalshi, traders now put the odds of a merger before 2028 at 66 percent.
Tesla’s stake in SpaceX, still under one percent, traces back to its earlier investment in xAI, which converted to SpaceX equity after SpaceX absorbed the AI company. The two are also jointly building Terafab, a chip facility in Austin meant to serve both Tesla’s AI computing needs and SpaceX’s satellite ambitions. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives has stood by a 2027 merger timeline for months, and Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest recently floated a similar case, an idea Musk pushed back on directly at the time.
Another Tesla SpaceX merger prediction by ARK Invest has Elon Musk talking
The timing adds another layer. Tesla has scheduled an October 1 unveiling for its next generation Roadster at a venue near SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas test site, using the phrase “Go for launch” in its promotional material. Both stocks dipped roughly 2 percent Monday before recovering slightly in premarket trading Tuesday, with SpaceX shares up about 0.4 percent and Tesla essentially flat.
Musk stopped short of confirming anything is in motion. But unlike his past denials of a corporate restructuring, this response didn’t rule one out, and it came with Shotwell sitting next to him describing an integration that’s already underway.
Elon Musk
Tesla Cybercabs narrowly miss deadly Amazon cargo plane crash
An Amazon cargo plane crash near Miami’s airport stopped feet from dozens of Tesla Cybercabs.
An Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 cargo jet overran the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, killing five people and injuring five more. The jet, operated by North Carolina based carrier 21 Air as Flight 7598, touched down around 2 p.m. after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, then crossed the airport perimeter, plowed across NW 67th Avenue and struck multiple vehicles before catching fire, according to the Associated Press.
Photos and video from the scene show the aircraft’s nose stopped within meters of a fenced staging lot holding dozens of gold painted Tesla Cybercabs, the steering wheel free robotaxi Tesla began putting on public roads in Austin last week. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has confirmed the plane struck “multiple vehicles” but has not said whether any Cybercabs were among them, and neither Tesla nor airport officials have addressed the fleet directly.
The Cybercabs had not yet entered commercial service in Miami. Tesla’s existing Robotaxi operation there runs on modified Model Y vehicles and has been unsupervised since Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the detail on X in July.
Footage of the plane crash from earlier today | #ONLYinDADE pic.twitter.com/iGoOtnd6cD
— ONLY in DADE (@ONLYinDADE) September 6, 2026
Elon Musk offered the briefest of reactions. Replying to a Zero Hedge post about the Cybercabs sitting so close to the wreckage, he wrote a single word: “Weird.” He has not commented further, and Tesla has not issued a statement.
The timing puts Tesla’s newest vehicle near an unrelated but highly visible tragedy just days after its Austin debut, a launch that had already drawn scrutiny from federal regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an audit how Tesla certified the Cybercab as compliant with federal vehicle safety standards, a process Teslarati covered after the vehicle’s September 3 launch event. That inquiry concerns the car’s lack of a steering wheel and pedals, not the Miami crash.
Investigators from the FAA and NTSB are focused on the plane, not the parking lot beside it. Flight data reviewed by outlets including Simple Flying show the 767 touched down around 170 knots, well above the 135 to 140 knot range typical for the aircraft, though investigators have not determined a cause. Amazon said it is working with authorities and that its priority is the safety of everyone affected.
Whether any Cybercabs were damaged, and what Tesla plans for the fleet parked near one of the country’s busiest airports, remain open questions.
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Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins
Tesla Asia says Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai this month.
Tesla’s Cybercab is heading to Asia. The official Tesla Asia account posted on X Thursday, inviting Cybercab fans to “Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai.” The post went up within hours of Tesla’s own Cybercab milestone in Texas, where the company said Thursday it had begun offering rides in across Austin.
Exact dates and venues for the Asia tour haven’t been released yet, though Tesla Hong Kong replied to the announcement with “Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong soon,” while Tesla Japan’s response pointed fans to a sign up page for updates. Neither post mentions test rides or a service area, and nothing so far suggests Tesla is launching Robotaxi operations in any of the four cities. Based on how Tesla has run past Cybercab tours, in Europe in late 2024 and at US shopping centers that same December, the Asia stops are almost certainly static displays at Tesla stores or public venues as a means to stimulate buzz for its future driverless ride-hailing service in the big cities.
Cybercab will be on display in Asia this month!
Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai. pic.twitter.com/wGmmEastfX— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) September 4, 2026
The timing lines up with Tesla’s only prior Cybercab appearance in the region, a booth at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last November, which Teslarati covered at the time. At that event, Tesla’s regional general manager for Shanghai framed the car as evidence of the company’s broader mission, a message Tesla has since formalized in its Master Plan Part IV, which states that “autonomous vehicles have the capacity to dramatically improve the affordability, availability and safety of transportation while reducing pollution, particularly in our increasingly dense global cities.” The same document is where Tesla lays out its “sustainable abundance” framing for Cybercab and Optimus alike, describing the two as the hardware behind an AI driven push to cut the cost of transportation and labor at scale.
Whether Cybercab actually operates as a robotaxi anywhere in Asia remains an open question, considering China has already pushed an autonomous ride-hailing market that’s run on homegrown players like Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony AI. For now, the four city tour reads as a marketing push timed to Austin’s momentum.