Musk had previously argued that the overlap between his companies was growing as both pushed deeper into artificial intelligence and robotics. The practical case is clear enough: Tesla’s autonomous vehicles, Optimus robots, batteries and storage could pair with SpaceX’s Starlink network, AI work and planned orbital data centres. A combined group could span computing, software, vehicles and robots.¹

That vision moved from speculation to a formal process on Tuesday, when Tesla and SpaceX said they had created special committees of independent directors to explore a merger. Musk, who leads both companies and is their largest shareholder, said he could not participate because of his conflict of interest — but made his preference plain: “Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes.”Elon Musk (elonmusk)² He also said Tesla shareholders would need to approve any deal with votes representing 50% of all outstanding shares, calling that threshold “quite a high hurdle.”³

The upside, in Musk’s telling, is cooperation at the edge of what he calls the “superintelligence singularity,” with “a lot to be gained from cooperating.”¹ But critics of the deal see a different consolidation: more freedom to shift people, technology and capital inside Musk’s corporate orbit, with fewer related-party disclosures and fewer opportunities for shareholders to challenge those moves.¹

On Wednesday, Tesla’s quarterly results sharpened that tension. Revenue was essentially flat at $28 billion, while net income fell 43% to $787 million as the company spent heavily on self-driving technology and humanoid robots.⁴ Musk has called Optimus potentially “the biggest product on earth,” but Tesla still has little revenue from those newer businesses.⁵

A merger valued around $3.5 trillion would face more than a shareholder vote. Analysts have flagged Chinese approval, U.S. national-security concerns tied to SpaceX’s defence work, and the risks of placing even more voting power in Musk’s hands. The proposed AI empire may be strategically coherent; convincing investors and watchdogs it will be accountable is the harder mission.¹