Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Q2 2023 earnings call comes on the heels of the company’s Q2 2023 Update Letter. Tesla’s second quarter results were quite impressive, with the electric vehicle maker’s Q2 profits growing 20% to $0.91 per share and revenue increasing 47% to $24.93 billion.
Tesla’s total gross profit for the quarter experienced a 7% growth, amounting to $4.53 billion, while gross margins stood at 18.2%, marking a decrease from 19.3% in the first quarter. Excluding regulatory credits and leases, auto gross margins were reported at 18.1%, down from 18.3% in Q1.
The following are live updates from Tesla’s Q2 2023 earnings call. I will be updating this article in real-time, so please keep refreshing the page to view the latest updates on this story. The first entry starts at the bottom of the page.
17:35 CDT – That wraps up the Q2 2023 earnings call! Once again, thanks for staying with us for yet another live blog! Until the next one!
17:32 CDT – A Goldman Sachs analyst asked about when automotive cogs would be under $36,000. CFO Zachary Kirkhorn noted that it’s hard to say, as there are innumerable factors to consider. The executive noted that commodity prices are dropping, however. “The trend is in being more efficient,” the executive said.
Kirkhorn also clarified that Giga Berlin and Giga Texas are still in their early phases. As the facilities get more optimized, their costs should be improved as well.
17:27 CDT – Oppenheimer asked about the operating system of Dojo. Musk noted that Dojo’s software is a combination of open-source and custom software.
17:24 CDT – Deutsche Bank asks about the estimated release date for a non-beta version of FSD. Musk did not commit to an exact date, though he did predict that FSD will be better than a human by the end of 2023. Musk also mentioned that the price of FSD is actually pretty low, considering the impact of autonomy.
17:18 CDT – Musk noted that it may be reasonable to sacrifice margins considering the potential of autonomy. Autonomy will have significant effects on the car market, the CEO predicted.
17:16 CDT – An analyst question about Dojo is asked, and its effects on Tesla’s financials. Musk noted that Tesla does not specify Dojo’s costs for now, though the company will likely be spending well over a billion on the supercomputer the next year.
As for potential competitors, Musk noted that the costs of developing such hardware are substantial. “In order to copy us, you’d need to spend well over a billion on a training computer,” Musk said. Kirkhorn noted that the numbers that the CEO mentioned for Dojo are between R&D and capital spending.
17:09 CDT – Elon Musk gives a shoutout to ARK Invest, stating that the firm’s analysis is among the best. He also pledges to give long-term value to shareholders. “I’m confident will deliver in the long term, but can’t control the short term,” Musk said.
17:05 CDT – A question about Tesla’s demand is asked. Musk noted that Tesla is fortunate enough to have real-time data on its vehicles’ demand and production. “We’re in turbulent times. I’m very confident in Tesla,” Musk said. The CEO also noted that he sees a least a 5x growth in Tesla, maybe a 10X growth in the future.
17:00 CDT – When asked about Tesla’s estimated demand for Optimus, Musk joked that the humanoid robot’s production would be immense. There are a lot of challenges with Optimus’ ramp, however, as even its actuators have to be custom-made. No suppliers produce the actuators that Tesla needs for its humanoid robot.
What is exciting is that Tesla will be trying out Optimus in its own factories. Elon Musk predicts Optimus will be useful by next year. Elon Musk also talked about using Neuralink to provide bionic parts to amputees, using Optimus parts. Now that’s futuristic!
16:56 CDT – In response to a question about the repairability of megacasted vehicles, Elon Musk joked “There might be why everyone is copying us.” Tesla executives also explained that the repairability of traditionally-produced vehicles is overestimated.
sThe company is working on repairability, of course, and estimates suggest that it is 10x cheaper and 3x faster to fix a vehicle with a megacast. This means that collision repair will be cheaper and faster over time. “I think basically it will be how all cars will be made in the future,” the executive said.
16:54 CDT – A question about the Cybertruck’s demand is asked. Musk’s response is clear. “Demand is so far off the hook, you can’t even see the hook,” the CEO said, though he also set expectations by reminding customers that there is a lot of new technology in the Cybertruck. Mass production is still set for next year.
16:53 CDT – In response to a question about FSD transferability, Musk provided a clear answer. As of Q3, FSD can be transferred to a new car. “It’s a one-time amnesty,” Musk joked.
16:52 CDT – In response to a question about Tesla’s costs and effects from the IRA, Zachary Kirkhorn noted that the company is working on reducing costs in Texas and Berlin, with both facilities seeing improvements during Q2.
16:48 CDT – A question about Tesla Energy was asked. Tesla notes that the Energy Business is gaining some momentum, especially as the Megapack is seeing a lot of demand. Megapack margins remain strong and within expectations, and Autobidder is continuing to grow. Tesla surpassed half a million Powewalls installed as well.
16:46 CDT – First investor question is asked, and it’s about 4680 battery cells. A Tesla executive noted that Tesla is currently focused on yield, though a 25% reduction on cell cost has been achieved. Giga Texas’ 4680 production increased 80% as well. By the time the Cybertruck scales, Tesla expects its 4680 program to be at a pretty good level.
16:44 CDT – Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn takes the stage. He also congratulates the company for yet another record quarter. Kirkhorn notes that Q2 is another record quarter in terms of profit. He also mentioned several of the company’s projects, from the Cybertruck to the next-generation platform. He did, however, also stated that Tesla increased its spending on AI projects, such as FSD, Optimus, and Dojo.
16:41 CDT – The CEO also discussed the rise of Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). In this light, FSD may also be licensed by “major OEMS” in the future. Discussions are already ongoing. In closing, Musk thanked the Tesla team for their hard work once more.
16:39 CDT – Musk confirms that the FSD Beta program has now traveled 300 million miles! He also praised the Cybertruck, noting that Tesla worked hard on every millimeter of the vehicle. “This is the first truck that will have 4 doors, over a 6 ft bed, and can still fit in a 20 ft garage,” Musk said, highlighting that the pickup truck will be delivered this year.
16:36 CDT – Similar to past quarters, Musk highlights Tesla’s work in autonomy, noting that the company’s Robotaxi will have “quasi-infinite demand.” This may sound like another lofty Musk prediction, but with Dojo, Tesla’s FSD and Autopilot efforts are likely to accelerate. As noted by the CEO, Tesla’s Dojo training computer is designed to lower the cost of neural net training.
16:34 CDT – Elon Musk takes the stage. He mentions several of Tesla’s milestones in the second quarter, such as the Model Y becoming the world’s best-selling car in the first quarter. While there is a lot of macro uncertainty, operating margins are still at 10%. Musk warns that Q3 levels will be a bit lower due to factory shutdowns.
16:32 CDT – Tesla VP for Investor Relations Martin Viecha takes the stage. He provides an overview of the rules. Here we go!
16:29 CDT – And the music is starting! I wonder if we’re starting at Elon Time? The Q2 results were great though, so I have a feeling the earnings call will start on time this quarter.
16:25 CDT – Hi, everyone, and welcome to yet another live blog! Tesla’s Q2 numbers are quite impressive, with the company posting better-than-expected results. The Q2 2023 Update Letter also suggested that serious work is underway to produce the Cybertruck, arguably the most highly-anticipated electric vehicle today.
Here’s the YouTube livestream for Tesla’s Q2 2023 earnings call.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s Anthropic deal has a catch, and Elon Musk just addressed it
Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Anthropic compute deal cuts both ways after Chamath floats higher prices.
Elon Musk pushed back on Sunday against the idea that SpaceX’s compute contract with Anthropic is a one way bet, after venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya argued the company could use a termination clause to charge the AI lab far more.
“It works both ways, of course. If compute becomes plentiful and cheap, SpaceX revenue will drop. No crying in the casino for either party,” Musk wrote on X Sunday evening, replying to a clip of Palihapitiya’s comments shared by AI commentator Rohan Paul.
On the All-In podcast released Sunday, Palihapitiya said either side can walk away from the agreement on 90 days’ notice. If data center supply tightens, he argued, SpaceX could exercise that option and bring the contract back at two to three times the current price, and Anthropic would have little choice but to accept. He called it “the kingmaking move,” according to BigGo Finance.
The clause itself is not new. SpaceX disclosed in its IPO filings in May that Anthropic would pay $1.25 billion per month for dedicated capacity at its Colossus clusters through May 2029, nearly $45 billion in total, with both companies able to terminate on 90 days’ notice, as Teslarati reported at the time. SpaceX’s later compute deals with Google and Reflection AI carry similar exit terms.
What has changed is the political backdrop. Palihapitiya’s thesis rests on incoming Democratic governors pulling tax incentives for data centers and slowing new construction. In Texas, Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on a moratorium on new data center approvals, and Deutsche Bank analysts warned last week that SpaceX’s Texas compute capacity could face delays. SpaceX and Tesla shares both fell after the midterm results.
A slowdown would favor companies that already own capacity. SpaceX acquired xAI in February and has been renting data centers to outside AI labs before the space is needed for Grok. At the Baron Investment Conference on Friday, Musk said SpaceX was “getting 50 billion a year for 35 billion dollar investments” and that it can bring a data center online in eight or nine months, compared to two and a half years for competitors. He also said SpaceX is tracking toward an annualized revenue rate above $100 billion in December, with a “best guess” of $500 billion by December 2027.
Musk’s reply points to the other side of the clause. Anthropic has signed large compute agreements with Amazon, Google and Microsoft, and if that capacity comes online faster than new construction slows, the AI lab would have its own leverage to renegotiate or leave. Musk has called Anthropic “obviously currently the leader in AI,” and it remains one of SpaceX’s largest compute customers.
SpaceX shares rose more than 2 percent in overnight trading late Sunday after closing Friday at $134.27, according to Stocktwits.
Tesla and SpaceX shares fell on Wednesday after Democrats swept both chambers of Congress. The decline stood out as broader market securities recovered and turned positive, while both of Musk’s publicly traded companies lagged.
CEO Elon Musk already joked about the unsuccessful campaigning for the Republicans, but now the new party will make pretty drastic changes to how it handles Tesla and SpaceX, and those companies will adjust their outlook.
Let’s take a deeper look.
Tesla ($TSLA)
Tesla shares traded lower during the regular session after Democrats secured both the House and Senate. The stock was down 2.32 percent at around 1:45 p.m. on the East Coast, trading at around $389.30.
The pressure is tied to more than the raw scale of Musk’s political spending, estimated at $450–474 million this cycle with roughly $224 million directed at Texas. In that state, Tesla now faces a Democratic governor and a Democratic senator after Gina Hinojosa unseated Greg Abbott and James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton.
The Austin Gigafactory, Robotaxi pilot programs in multiple Texas cities, and any related AI compute expansion sit under a new state executive who campaigned against certain corporate subsidies and floated a moratorium on new data-center construction.
Federally, Democratic control of key committees opens the door to deeper examination of Tesla’s autonomous-driving safety record, federal energy-storage and manufacturing incentives, and the national-security implications of any combination with SpaceX.
Investors are also weighing whether the company’s historically close alignment with the prior Republican leadership will invite slower permitting, additional hearings, or tighter rules on Full Self-Driving deployment.
For Tesla, the political shift adds near-term friction around state permitting and federal regulatory approvals for autonomy and energy storage. A potential merger with SpaceX may face slower review even if it proceeds.
Core growth drivers such as vehicle deliveries, energy deployments, and robotaxi rollout remain intact, yet the stock now carries a higher political-risk premium that could weigh on valuation until the company demonstrates workable relationships with the new Texas leadership and congressional majorities.
SpaceX ($SPCX)
SpaceX shares also declined in live trading on November 4 following the Democratic midterm sweep. The stock traded at $134.97, down 4.49 percent. The drop occurred even as broader indexes stabilized, highlighting a company-specific reaction to the election outcome.
Musk’s large contributions, concentrated in Texas races that both companies lost, place SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility and headquarters under a new Democratic governor.
At the federal level, Democratic control of Congress enables greater scrutiny of NASA, the Department of Defense, and other contracts that support a meaningful share of revenue, along with reviews of Starlink national-security uses and any Tesla merger. Analysts have noted that empowered committees can hold hearings and request documents on these relationships.
For SpaceX, the results raise the risk of delayed contract awards, higher compliance costs, and tighter constraints on AI and satellite infrastructure expansion, particularly in Texas where a data-center moratorium has been discussed.
A merger with Tesla could encounter political friction that slows integration of launch, connectivity, and autonomy capabilities.
While Starlink growth and launch cadence continue as primary drivers, the company faces a more contested path for federal funding and state-level operations, requiring management to rebuild ties with the new congressional majorities and Texas leadership to limit the overhang.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk calls Earth’s data centers “peanuts” next to what SpaceX is planning in orbit
Elon Musk says SpaceX capex efficiency is underestimated as orbital data centers loom by 2028.
Elon Musk is pushing back on one of the biggest worries hanging over SpaceX stock. In a reply on X on Sunday, Musk said the company’s capital expenditure efficiency is severely underestimated. He was responding to a Milk Road Stocks post citing analyst Kyle Reidhead, who estimates SpaceX will need to spend roughly $470 billion over the next five quarters.
Reidhead built that figure around the target SpaceX set on its third quarter earnings call: 13 gigawatts or more of compute by the end of 2027. In his breakdown, Nvidia captures 83 to 89 percent of the spending. SpaceX ended the quarter with 1.7 GW of nameplate compute and guided to $35 billion to $40 billion in fourth quarter capex, as Teslarati reported.
Musk did not attach a number to his claim, but the earnings call shows the argument. CFO Bret Johnsen said new compute currently pays for itself in under a year at today’s pricing, and Musk said that window could shrink to six months next year. Using that pace, Reidhead argues about $230 billion of the $470 billion could come from operating cash flow and about $60 billion from SpaceX’s roughly $90 billion cash pile, leaving around $180 billion to borrow. Musk confirmed last week that SpaceX had already closed a new $40 billion debt raise to buy GPUs.
The ground buildout is not the end goal. It is what is meant to pay for the move to orbit. Replying on Friday to charts built from Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire’s SpaceX model, Musk wrote that “Terrestrial compute will be peanuts compared to orbital compute,” adding that orbital compute deployed per month “probably exceeds terrestrial around the end of 2028 and then far exceeds it in 2029.”
Maguire’s model shows how steep that path is. It has capex climbing from $88 billion this year to $290 billion in 2027 and $369 billion in 2028, with SpaceX burning $77.8 billion in cash this year and $122.6 billion next year before turning $114.9 billion cash positive in 2028. Musk’s response to the model was, “I think we can do better.”
The orbital half runs through Starmind. SpaceX plans to operate up to 1 million AI satellites flying in clusters of about 10, linked by roughly 10 terabits of bandwidth, with deployment of thousands of units starting as soon as late 2027 out of its Gigasat factory in Bastrop, Texas, according to SpaceX’s space safety page. Musk has said each Starmind spacecraft will carry more than 250 kW of solar power.
Getting there depends on launch volume. Maguire’s model assumes 250 Starship flights in 2028, up from two this year and 38 next year. The nearer test is financial: SpaceX guided to $33 billion to $37 billion in first quarter 2027 revenue, more than double the $14.58 billion it booked in Q3, and Musk reposted that guidance again on Sunday morning.
Tesla Robotaxi enters its newest city, reaching San Antonio
Tesla begins groundworks on $10B ‘Project Crystal Sun’ in Texas
