Investor's Corner
Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 is encouraging China’s local EV makers to be more competitive
Within the next few months, Tesla would begin exporting the Model 3 Performance and Long Range Model 3 AWD to the Chinese market. By the end of the year, the electric car maker aims to have the first Model 3 produced in Gigafactory 3, which will be equipped with both battery and electric car assembly lines.
There is a very good reason why the automotive industry is putting a lot of effort into saturating China. The country, after all, is the largest automobile market globally, both in terms of demand and supply. In 2017 alone, the country produced almost 25 million passenger cars and roughly 4 million commercial vehicles. The country is also a large market for electric vehicles, with sales of EVs hitting the 1 million mark in 2018, and estimates indicating that up to 2 million EVs could be sold in China by 2020.
Amidst this competitive car market lies Tesla and the upcoming Gigafactory 3. So far, Tesla’s electric cars — the Model S and Model X — have been competing in the Chinese market as higher-priced, premium alternatives to locally-made EVs. Tesla has been pretty successful in this sense, becoming a brand largely associated with status and quality, similar to other premium products such as the Apple iPhone. With Gigafactory 3, though, Tesla is stepping away from this strategy, as the facility is looking to produce the Model 3 and Model Y — affordable electric cars that can attack the much-larger, lower-end of the market.
While the presence of Tesla’s massive facility in Shanghai could result in more intense competition, though, some of the country’s local electric car companies have stated that they welcome the arrival of the Silicon Valley-based company nonetheless. In a statement to Xinhua News, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, noted that the arrival of Gigafactory 3 would likely encourage local carmakers to step up their game. This, of course, benefits consumers.
“Tesla’s China production will have a ‘catfish effect’ in the country’s auto industry, pushing domestic carmakers to speed up their technological upgrading,” Cui said.
Jin Guoqing, deputy director of Chang’an Automobile, an automotive dynamics research institute, stated that his company would push its efforts even further now that Tesla has arrived in China, particularly as his firm targets a different price bracket and demographic compared to the American carmaker.
“We shall amplify our advantages to the most,” Jin said.
Legacy carmakers that are also attempting to breach the country’s lucrative and growing auto market are raising the stakes for their competition as well. Mercedes-Benz Parts Manufacturing & Service Ltd., for one, also inaugurated its first factory outside Europe last October. Just like Gigafactory 3, Mercedes-Benz’ factory is being built on the Lingang Area. BMW, on the other hand, also announced last October that it would be increasing its stake in BMW Brilliance Automotive, a joint venture located in in the northeastern city of Shenyang.
Ultimately, the arrival of Tesla’s Gigafactory 3 would likely boost the country’s electric car initiatives. Thus, apart from allowing Tesla to tap into what could very well be a lucrative market, Gigafactory 3 could also be the trigger that pushes even more innovation forward in the country. With vehicles such as the Model 3 and the Model Y saturating China, after all, competitors would be wise to come up with vehicles that are just as good or even better than Tesla’s electric cars.
Elon Musk, for his part, has expressed his high hopes for the facility. During an interview after the groundbreaking event, Musk stated that he has been very impressed with the construction capabilities of China so far. In his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony, Musk urged the country’s most driven workers to apply for a post in Gigafactory 3, even noting that maybe, just maybe, someone working in Gigafactory 3 could succeed him someday.
“I do want to emphasize that there’s no limit on the potential. One day, somebody could join us — a junior engineer here at Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory — and ultimately, maybe have my job someday,” Musk said.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s newest logo confirms everything about what it’s become
SpaceX officially absorbed xAI under the SpaceXAI brand, completing the largest private merger in history.
SpaceX made its corporate transformation official in May 2026 when Elon Musk posted on X that xAI would cease to exist as a standalone company. “xAI will be dissolved as a separate company, so it will just be SpaceXAI, the AI products from SpaceX,” he wrote.
A new SpaceXAI logo was announced today, visually embedding the xAI letters inside the SpaceX identity, which can be seen as a deliberate design choice that signals the merger is not a partnership but a full absorption and XAi a core function of the same company. The same way Starlink is not a separate brand but a SpaceX product. The announcement closed the loop on a process that began February 2, 2026, when SpaceX acquired xAI in the largest private merger in history, valued at $1.25 trillion. SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion.
We are now @SpaceXAI. pic.twitter.com/ema66xDWC9
— SpaceXAI (@SpaceXAI) July 6, 2026
The reason SpaceX bought xAI was stated plainly by Musk at the time of the deal: to build orbital data centers. SpaceX had simultaneously filed with the FCC to launch up to one million satellites designed to function as AI compute nodes in low Earth orbit, escaping what Musk described as the energy constraints limiting AI development on Earth.
xAI provided the AI software stack, with Grok, the X platform, and the Colossus supercomputer infrastructure in Memphis with over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs, while SpaceX provided the rockets, Starlink, and the capital base to fund it. The two companies needed each other. xAI was burning $2.5 billion in losses on $250 million in revenue. SpaceX was generating an estimated $8 billion in profit on $15 billion in revenue and needed an AI narrative to command the valuation it was targeting for its IPO.
What SpaceX has done, regardless of how the orbital AI vision ultimately plays out, is walk into a public market as something no company has been before: a rocket manufacturer, satellite internet provider, AI software company, social media platform, and supercomputer operator under one ticker. Whether that combination is worth $2 trillion depends entirely on which of those businesses you believe in most.
Investor's Corner
Tesla challenges startups to score a gig inside its most advanced European factory
Tesla is challenging startups to bring their best battery tech directly to Gigafactory Berlin.
Tesla has issued an open challenge to startups across Europe, inviting them to bring their best battery technology directly to the floor of Gigafactory Berlin. The program, called the JUNI x Tesla Battery Cell Giga Challenge, opened applications this month with a deadline of July 24, 2026, and is targeting startups with solutions that can make battery cell manufacturing faster, cheaper, safer, and more scalable at an industrial level.
The timing of the challenge is directly tied to Tesla’s most aggressive European battery investment yet. On May 12, 2026, Giga Berlin plant manager André Thierig announced a $250 million investment to scale the factory’s annual 4680 cell production capacity from 8 GWh to 18 GWh, more than doubling the previous target set just months earlier in December 2025. Thierig confirmed the expansion on X, saying the investment “will enable 18 GWh of annual 4680 cell production and create more than 1,500 new jobs.” Combined with a previously announced battery investment at the Grunheide site now approaches $1.2 billion.
Today, we announced a $ 250m investment for our Giga Berlin Cell factory. This will enable 18GWh of annual 4680 cell production and create more than 1500 new jobs. Good news during challenging times for the German industry. pic.twitter.com/ou4SWMfWh9
— André Thierig (@AndrThie) May 12, 2026
The challenge is looking specifically for startups with proven solutions across five categories: materials, equipment, operations, automation, and artificial intelligence. Applications are screened directly by Tesla’s cell manufacturing team in Grunheide, and the strongest submissions move through technical discussions, a pitch day in front of Tesla stakeholders, and potentially a paid pilot project with the cell team. Tesla is not looking for ideas at concept stage. The program requires applicants to demonstrate working prototypes, test data, or prior pilots before being considered.
The historical context matters here. Elon Musk first announced plans for what he called the world’s largest battery cell production facility alongside the Giga Berlin car factory back in 2020, targeting up to 250 GWh of annual capacity. Those plans were shelved in 2022 when Tesla shifted its battery investment focus to the United States to take advantage of Inflation Reduction Act incentives. The revival of cell production at Giga Berlin, now backed by over $1 billion in committed capital, represents a return to an ambition that was set aside for three years. As Teslarati has reported, the 4680 format is central to Tesla’s long-term cost reduction strategy across vehicles, energy storage, including the Tesla Semi and Cybercab.
By opening the challenge to outside startups, Tesla is acknowledging that reaching 18 GWh at Grunheide will require technology it does not currently have in-house, and it is willing to pay for the right solutions. For a startup in the battery supply chain, a paid pilot with Tesla’s European cell team is as close to a direct commercial path as the industry offers.
Investor's Corner
Tesla crushes Wall Street expectations, beats delivery estimates by over 15 percent
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) beat Wall Street expectations of 406,000 vehicles delivered in Q2 by reporting 480,126 deliveries for the three months ending in June.
Tesla reported it delivered 467,762 Model 3 and Model Y units, while 12,364 Model S, Model X, and Cybertrucks switched hands during the quarter. The Model S and Model X were officially sunset this past quarter and will no longer be part of the company’s Production & Delivery reports moving forward.
🚨 BREAKING: Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles in Q2, ANNIHILATING Wall Street expectations of 406,000. Production was reported at 451,758.
Deliveries:
Model 3/Y: 467,762
Other Models: 12,364Production:
Model 3/Y: 442,936
Other Models: 8,822 https://t.co/TTHwQAsKt8 pic.twitter.com/7qI4Zj6FE5— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 2, 2026
The quarter is a pleasant surprise and a good rebound from Q1, when Tesla slightly missed the Wall Street consensus of 365,645 cars by reporting 358,023 deliveries for the first three motnhs of the year.
Energy storage deployments also provided some strength in Tesla’s delivery report, hitting 13.5 GWh for Q2. This is a particular division of Tesla’s business that has been overwhelmingly robust over the past few years, truly being a strong point of the company’s overall model.
For the year, Tesla analysts still predict deliveries to trend in the 1.69 million unit region, a modest 3 to 5 percent increase from the 1.64 million cars the company delivered last year. Tesla will likely return to more sequential and noticeable year-over-year growth as the Cybercab project starts to ramp up considerably in the next few years.
Tesla has some other potential catalysts to spur vehicle deliveries, too. Not only is it expecting Cybercab to truly start making a change in the next few years, but other vehicles could be entering the company’s lineup.
Tesla sends production Cybercab with no steering wheel, pedals to on-road testing
The slightly longer Model Y L has been a highly speculated release candidate in the U.S. It has already done incredibly well in China, and U.S. buyers have been wanting slightly more interior space than the Model Y. Now that the Model X is gone, it is more needed than ever.
Q2 highlights a pretty stable automotive division within Tesla, and no true concerns arise from these figures, especially considering it managed to beat expectations convincingly.
SpaceX’s newest logo confirms everything about what it’s become
Tesla flexes how it will help the blind with Cybercab
