By Al Root
You would think Tesla would give SpaceX a volume discount. That isn't the case, though.
It turns out, one of the biggest fans of Tesla's Cybertruck is SpaceX. Elon Musk's rocket company has spent $131 million on the avant-garde truck. It appears all that money was spent in 2025. Tesla and SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.
The EVs were bought "at manufacturer's suggested retail price from Tesla, " according to SpaceX's S-1 IPO registration statement.
SpaceX didn't get a deal. Of course, there are different trims and options for Cybertrucks, but that amount of money should purchase about 1,600 trucks. That's about 8% of the total number of Cybertrucks Tesla sold in the U.S. in 2025.
Americans bought 20,237 Cybertrucks in 2025, down 48% year over year.
The transaction was disclosed by SpaceX, but not by Tesla. There is a note about doing business with SpaceX in Tesla's annual report, but no number is given for the amount of money beyond selling battery storage products.
The Cybertruck purchase is just another example that Elon Musk-run companies are unique. There aren't many comparables for things such as related-party transactions, CEO compensation, board composition, or Musk's control.
His SpaceX stock represents about 85% of the voting power. His SpaceX and Tesla incentive-laden stock awards could be worth trillions. And Musk's colleague, Ira Ehrenpreis, serves as a director of both companies. Other SpaceX board members, Antonio Gracias and Steve Jurvetson, were previously Tesla directors.
Investors, of course, know this. None of it will have much bearing on SpaceX's IPO valuation, which could reach $2 trillion. Any bet on SpaceX or Tesla is ultimately a bet on Musk.
His two most valuable companies have grown very close over time. Tesla owns roughly 19 million shares of SpaceX, acquired via xAI, which merged with SpaceX in February.
Both stories are all about AI. SpaceX, which competes with OpenAI and Anthropic following its xAI merger, plans to deploy data centers in orbit. Tesla is building AI-trained robo-taxis and robots. AI computing and physical AI applications will need a lot of semiconductors, so Tesla and SpaceX are building a " Terafab" chip-making facility to be run with Intel's help.
Tesla and SpaceX are also collaborating on a digital AI assistant, which could use the computing power of parked Teslas.
No one should expect related part transactions to moderate.
"We plan to explore other areas of strategic collaboration with Tesla in the future," reads part of SpaceX's IPO prospectus.
Maybe SpaceX is interested in Model Ys or Cybercabs.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 30, 2026 01:00 ET (05:00 GMT)
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