AUSTIN, Texas, April 23, 2026, 15:22 CDT
Tesla bumped its 2026 capex forecast above $25 billion, pushing Musk’s robotaxi, AI chip, and Optimus robot ambitions front-and-center for investors—well before any first-quarter profit turnaround is in focus. The company said the expanded budget targets AI projects, compute power, data centers, manufacturing and research lines, plus its own AI-enabled assets, as well as retail, service, and charging operations.
Tesla wants shareholders backing for ventures that haven’t matured yet, as its core auto business faces sharper price competition and stiffer rivals. Shares slipped 3.5% to $373.62. This comes despite Tesla posting higher profits and positive free cash flow—the leftover cash after capital expenditures.
Tesla posted net income attributable to common stockholders of $477 million for the quarter, a 17% jump from the same period last year. Revenue came in at $22.39 billion, up 16%. Free cash flow climbed to $1.44 billion, with cash, equivalents and short-term investments totaling $44.74 billion.
Tesla’s car business offered a bit of a cushion, though hardly a perfect one. Deliveries climbed 6% to 358,023 vehicles, measured against last year’s softer numbers. On the other hand, energy generation and storage revenue dropped 12%. Services and other revenue jumped 42%. Automotive revenue landed at $16.23 billion.
The numbers underline just how quickly costs are mounting. Tesla’s capital expenditure hit $2.49 billion for the quarter, jumping from $1.49 billion the year before. Spending could fluctuate, the company said, depending on project timelines, milestones, changing production needs, and whatever new projects get the green light.
Tesla reported a near doubling in paid robotaxi miles compared with the previous quarter, noting that it ramped up unsupervised rides in Austin and rolled them out in Dallas and Houston in April. Full Self-Driving (Supervised), the automaker’s driver-assistance system, continues to need a driver’s hands-on oversight—it doesn’t make the car autonomous. Tesla also said it secured approval to roll out the feature in the Netherlands.
Infrastructure efforts aren’t limited to taxis. Tesla reported installing over 2,200 net new Supercharger stalls in the quarter, bumping up the network by 19% compared with a year earlier. The company also pointed to a collaboration with SpaceX, targeting construction of what it described as the “largest chip fab ever”—a semiconductor facility.
Musk zeroed in on Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot. “I think Optimus will be our biggest product,” he told analysts during the earnings call, per AP. Tesla’s latest update detailed a first-gen Optimus line in Fremont, built for 1 million robots annually, while a second-gen Texas line is aiming for a long-term capacity of 10 million each year. AP News
Mamta Valechha, analyst at Quilter Cheviot, flagged that the revised full-year spending plan marks “a significant step-up,” roughly triple what Tesla spent last year. She expects Tesla will keep burning cash through the remainder of the year. Valechha pointed to Tesla’s “physical AI” projects as having big revenue promise, but said commercialisation is still a ways off. euronews
Morningstar’s Seth Goldstein told Reuters the investment hinges on whether Musk can actually turn Optimus into a value-generating platform; if not, the capex isn’t justified. Greg Basich, associate director at Counterpoint Research, put it bluntly to Reuters: Tesla is “being pulled in too many different directions at once.” Reuters
Competition isn’t letting up. BYD has moved past Tesla to become the top electric-vehicle maker globally, according to AP, while robotaxi pushes from Alphabet’s Waymo and Amazon’s Zoox are gathering speed, Reuters reported. Tesla, for its part, is fending off rivals in EVs and pushing hard for the software and fleet business that Musk insists will reshape the company.
The plan isn’t locked in. According to Reuters, Musk signaled more caution around robotaxis, pointing to Tesla’s deliberately slow rollout as it aims to avoid any injuries or deaths—the real bottleneck, he said, is the “rigorous validation” process. Reuters also noted Tesla is bracing for negative free cash flow through year-end, after posting a surplus in the first quarter. Reuters
Now comes the real test: execution. Tesla says it’s keeping Cybercab, Tesla Semi, and Megapack 3 on track for volume production in 2026. First-gen Optimus lines are also going in. The question for investors is whether these programs start easing the spending load before cash outflows get worse.
