Tesla's $20B bet on AI, robotaxis, and the future
Tesla just announced a huge $20 billion investment for 2026—about twice Wall Street's expectations.
The focus? Upgrading factories, ramping up robotaxi development, building out AI computing power, and mass-producing Optimus robots.
To make room for this, Tesla is stopping Model S/X production at its Fremont plant so it could churn out 1 million Optimus units each year.
Teaming up with xAI for smarter tech
Back in January, Tesla disclosed an agreement to invest $2 billion in xAI's big funding round.
This move is part of their push to bring more AI features—like the Grok chatbot—into their cars, while also supplying Megapack batteries to xAI.
Robotaxis rolling out (and earnings looking up)
Tesla already has 500 robotaxis running in Austin and San Francisco, and has conducted unsupervised paid rides.
Their Full Self-Driving subscriber count jumped 40% last year to hit 1.1 million users.
Even though car deliveries dropped 9% year-over-year, Tesla beat profit expectations and saw shares climb after hours—investors seem pretty pumped about all the new tech on the way.