Musk hints (again) at possible SpaceX, Tesla merger

Elon Musk once again hinted at a possible deepening of collaboration, perhaps even a merger, between his two major companies: Tesla ( TSLA ) and SpaceX ( SPCX ).

Speaking at the All-In Summit last night , Musk said it was a great question whether the two companies would remain separate despite several avenues for collaboration.

"With all this collaboration, on so many levels, who can imagine what action one might take when there's so much close collaboration in so many areas," he said.

Yahoo Finance reached out to SpaceX regarding Musk's comments about a possible merger but did not immediately hear back.

It's not the first time Musk has spoken of this possibility. Reports suggested he had openly discussed the possibility of a merger between the two companies prior to SpaceX's June IPO.

The topic came up during SpaceX's Q2 earnings call , but Musk stopped short of confirming anything.

"As you can tell from all the many collaborations on so many fronts with SpaceX, and there's a lot. There's more and more overlap, especially with Terafab," Musk said. "But obviously, you know, we can't talk about combining companies on an earnings call. It's got to be done with the appropriate process."

Musk didn't say a combination isn't happening — only that an earnings call isn't the venue to discuss it, and that any move would require a formal process.

The two companies Musk controls are already deeply intertwined, even financially. Tesla holds an equity stake in SpaceX and, earlier this year, entered a "framework agreement" governing future collaboration.

SpaceX has been a steady Tesla customer, buying batteries, energy products, and Cybertrucks, while Tesla weaves SpaceXAI tech back into its own products. Grok, the AI model from Musk's xAI, is being embedded in Tesla vehicles and, Musk said, helping power the "digital" version of the Optimus robot.

Starlink is being built into the Cybercab and is slated to roll out across the broader fleet to guarantee the connectivity Musk argues robotaxis need to operate autonomously "everywhere."

Then there is Terafab , the chipmaking venture Musk said was the biggest area of overlap. He called it a shared dependency, warning that Tesla "will be constrained in our ability to scale Optimus production" without it.

In addition, the upcoming Tesla Roadster reveal — slated for Oct. 1 — may feature SpaceX thruster technology, which in theory could enable the car to fly or hover for a short time.

Pras Subramanian is Lead Transportation Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram .