Tesla lifts 2026 capex

Tesla told investors on April 22 that 2026 capital spending will rise above $25 billion as Elon Musk pushes deeper into artificial intelligence, robotics and chipmaking. (tesla.com) That is up from Tesla’s earlier 2026 forecast of about $20 billion and nearly triple the $8.53 billion it spent in 2025. Reuters reported the increase at roughly 25% over the prior plan. (bloomberg.com) (reuters.com) Tesla’s first-quarter update said the company was ramping additional artificial-intelligence compute, new battery and materials factories, and production lines for Megapack 3, Cybercab and the Tesla Semi. The same deck said Tesla is building out the infrastructure and software for its Robotaxi and future robotics businesses. (tesla.com) Capital expenditure is money spent on long-lived assets such as factories, data centers and production lines, not routine payroll or supplier bills. Tesla’s new plan points that spending at physical capacity for products that are still early or not yet proven at scale. (techcrunch.com) (tesla.com) The shift lands as Tesla’s core car business is under pressure from rivals including BYD and Xiaomi, even after first-quarter revenue rose 16% to $22.39 billion. CNBC reported Tesla shares initially rose about 4% after earnings, then gave up those gains after executives discussed the higher spending plan. (cnbc.com) Tesla also told investors it generated $1.4 billion in free cash flow in the first quarter, but Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said the company expects negative free cash flow for the rest of 2026 as the investment phase accelerates. Reuters said Taneja described it as a capital-investment phase that would last a couple of years. (tesla.com) (reuters.com) Musk said on the earnings call that the added spending was “well justified” by future revenue opportunities in autonomy, robots and related hardware. Bloomberg reported the company framed the outlay as part of a broader effort to turn Tesla from an electric-vehicle maker into an artificial-intelligence and robotics company. (bloomberg.com) (reuters.com) Tesla’s own materials tie that spending to specific buildouts: a first-generation Optimus line in Fremont designed for 1 million robots a year, preparation in Texas for a second-generation line, and more regional supply-chain investment across vehicles, energy and artificial intelligence. Those projects now sit closer to the center of Tesla’s cash allocation than the market was assuming at the start of 2026. (tesla.com) The immediate question is no longer whether Tesla will spend heavily in 2026. It is whether Robotaxi, Optimus and Tesla’s artificial-intelligence infrastructure start producing revenue fast enough to justify a $25 billion-plus year of building. (reuters.com) (bloomberg.com)