Tesla plans $25B capex

Tesla told investors on April 22 that its 2026 capital spending will exceed $25 billion, a sharp increase from the more than $20 billion it forecast in January. (tesla.com) (reuters.com) The higher budget emerged with Tesla’s first-quarter results, which showed $22.39 billion in revenue, adjusted earnings per share of 41 cents, and $1.44 billion in free cash flow. (cnbc.com) (tesla.com) Chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja said on the earnings call that spending this year will top $25 billion, up from a 2026 prediction of $20 billion last quarter. (cnbc.com) (finance.yahoo.com) Tesla’s shareholder update said the company is ramping additional artificial-intelligence computing, new battery and battery-material factories, and production lines for Megapack 3, Cybercab and the Tesla Semi. (tesla.com) The company also said it launched unsupervised Robotaxi rides in Dallas and Houston in April, and received approval for Full Self-Driving, supervised, in the Netherlands that same month. (tesla.com) That spending plan is large against Tesla’s recent history. Reuters reported the new 2026 target is nearly triple Tesla’s $8.53 billion in 2025 capital expenditures. (reuters.com) (sec.gov) Tesla and Reuters both said the company expects negative free cash flow for the rest of 2026 after the first quarter’s surplus, tying that pressure to heavier investment in artificial intelligence, robotics and manufacturing scale-up. (finance.yahoo.com) (reuters.com) The backdrop is a car business that is still large, but less dominant. CNBC reported Tesla shares were down 14% for the year through April 22, while the company’s automotive business continued to face pressure from BYD and Xiaomi. (cnbc.com) Tesla reported 358,023 vehicle deliveries for the first quarter, up about 6% from a year earlier but below the prior quarter. Automotive revenue rose 16% year over year to $16.2 billion. (tesla.com) (cnbc.com) Reuters said analysts see the core question as whether robotaxis and Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot, can justify a spending cycle more typical of large cloud and software companies. Elon Musk has said the robotaxi business is unlikely to contribute meaningful revenue before 2027. (reuters.com) Tesla’s new capex target turns that debate into a balance-sheet question. The company is spending now on factories, chips, software and vehicles that investors may not be able to value on revenue for at least another year. (tesla.com) (reuters.com)