Tesla earned $500m last year selling to xAI and SpaceX

One of Elon Musk's firms earned more than $500 million by selling to two other companies within the Musk network.

Tesla secured $573 million in earnings last year by selling cars and batteries to SpaceX and xAI, as detailed in a filing released on Thursday.

Tesla reported earning around $430 million last year by selling Megapack units — which are lithium-ion battery systems — to xAI, Musk's AI-based firm, and the creator of Grok. 

Additionally, it noted earning approximately $143 million, primarily from vehicle sales to SpaceX, Musk's aerospace company, last year.

The automaker had not revealed its sales figures to SpaceX in the initial edition of its annual report filed in January.

Apart from purchasing cars and batteries from Tesla, the Thursday filing highlighted several other ways the Musk entities intertwined last year.

In the filing, Tesla revealed an investment of $2 billion in SpaceX and xAI. It also detailed payments to both companies for various services: $11.4 million to SpaceX and $4 million to xAI.

Musk has blurred the organisational boundaries between his companies for several years.

Earlier this year, SpaceX acquired xAI, further merging Musk's business enterprises. In the past, Tesla employees have been dispatched to upgrade the code at X, Musk's social platform. XAI's Grok has been integrated with Tesla vehicles and Optimus robots. Musk has also proposed that Tesla and SpaceX collaborate on the Roadster vehicle.

This intricate web of internal transactions has led to investor and analyst concerns regarding probable conflicts of interest. 

Some speculate over the possibility that Musk is channeling resources, expertise, and AI advancements from publicly-traded Tesla to his privately-held enterprises. There are ongoing discussions about the chance of Musk's enterprises merging into a single colossal corporation.