Elon Musk is teasing a merger between the two publicly traded companies he runs: Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX).
Musk, who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of both electric vehicle maker Tesla and commercial rocket company SpaceX, hinted at combining the two companies.
During a podcast interview, Musk said that collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX is growing, notably in the development of microchips.
Musk added that Tesla and SpaceX also share research and development (R&D) at a manufacturing campus in Austin, Texas.
When asked about combining Tesla and SpaceX, Musk said: “With all this collaboration on so many levels, who can imagine what action one might take.”
The comments from Musk come amid widespread speculation that Tesla and SpaceX will eventually merge into one company.
Several Wall Street brokerages have been predicting a merger since SpaceX went public in June of this year, including Barid and RBC (RY).
Analysts say the main benefit of a merger would be allowing Musk to control the entire A.I. value chain at the two companies, from microchips and computing to manufacturing.
Prior to going public, SpaceX acquired and merged with xAI, the company behind the Grok chatbot, and social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Analysts note that Tesla uses A.I. to train its electric vehicles and that there are many synergies to be achieved with SpaceX.
The timing of any merger between Tesla and SpaceX, or if a combination actually happens, remains unclear.
TSLA stock has declined 13% over the past year to trade at $358.97 U.S. per share. SPCX stock has fallen 8% since its June market debut to trade at $148.15 U.S. a share.
