Tesla Earned $573 Million from SpaceX and xAI Last Year

Tesla recently submitted a revised annual filing, fully disclosing for the first time the extent of business dealings with two other companies controlled by Elon Musk. The data shows that Tesla generated over $573 million in revenue last year through product sales to AI startup xAI and aerospace giant SpaceX. The revelation has once again thrust related-party transactions within Musk's "business empire" into the spotlight.

$573 Million in Revenue Comes to Light

According to the revised filing submitted by Tesla on Thursday, the $573 million in revenue comprises two major components:

• xAI contributed approximately $430.1 million: This figure was already disclosed when Tesla first released its annual report in January. As an AI startup founded by Musk in 2023, xAI has been building computing infrastructure at massive scale, and the products and services supplied by Tesla accounted for this substantial revenue.

• SpaceX contributed approximately $143.3 million: This is the key new information added in the revised filing. Tesla did not disclose this amount in its initial annual report published in January, only supplementing it in this revision.

Notably, media outlets had previously reported that SpaceX made concentrated purchases of Cybertrucks worth over $100 million in the fourth quarter of last year. This means Cybertrucks accounted for a significant share of SpaceX's total procurement from Tesla.

Cybertruck: A 'Sales Savior' Through Related-Party Transactions?

Since its market launch, the Cybertruck has consistently underperformed in sales. While the avant-garde electric pickup truck has generated enormous buzz, it has faced numerous challenges in actual sales, including slow production ramp-ups, quality disputes, and lower-than-expected consumer acceptance.

SpaceX's purchase of over $100 million worth of Cybertrucks in a single quarter inevitably raises questions: Was this a legitimate procurement driven by genuine business needs, or was Musk using his affiliated companies to prop up Tesla's numbers?

From SpaceX's perspective, as an aerospace company with a large workforce and substantial logistics demands, bulk procurement of electric pickups for facility transportation and employee commuting is not entirely unreasonable. However, such a massive single-quarter purchase volume has still drawn attention from investors and analysts regarding the fairness of the related-party transaction.

Internal Synergies and Controversies Across Musk's Business Empire

Musk currently commands a sprawling business empire spanning automotive, aerospace, artificial intelligence, social media, and more. The business synergies among Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, X (formerly Twitter), and The Boring Company are viewed on one hand as a unique advantage of the "Musk ecosystem," while on the other hand they continue to raise questions about corporate governance.

The relationship between xAI and Tesla has been particularly controversial. Shareholders have previously questioned Musk for diverting Tesla's AI talent and resources to xAI, potentially diluting Tesla's investment in core technologies such as autonomous driving. Yet the fact that xAI contributed $430 million in revenue to Tesla reveals another dimension of this relationship — xAI is also feeding back into Tesla's financial performance.

From an information disclosure standpoint, the fact that Tesla omitted SpaceX-related revenue data from its initial report and only supplemented it through a subsequent revision reflects room for improvement in related-party transaction transparency. For a publicly traded company valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, investors have the right to be informed of all material transactions with entities controlled by the company's de facto controller in a timely manner.

Industry Observations and Future Outlook

The $573 million in related-party revenue accounts for less than 1% of Tesla's total revenue of over $96 billion last year, making its financial impact relatively modest. However, the symbolic significance of this figure cannot be overlooked — it reveals the increasingly tight commercial ties among Musk's various enterprises.

Looking ahead, as xAI continues to expand its computing infrastructure and SpaceX advances its Starship program, the scale of internal transactions among Musk's companies could grow further. Balancing synergistic benefits with transaction fairness and disclosure transparency will become a critical corporate governance challenge for Tesla.

For investors, closely monitoring the details of related-party transaction disclosures in Tesla's subsequent filings will be essential for a more comprehensive assessment of the company's true operational performance and governance standards.