Musk Is Fueling Tesla by Torching Piles of Cash

Elon Musk, ever attuned to the political zeitgeist, has updated Tesla Inc.’s mission to “amazing abundance.” It is the kind of hyperbole beloved of investors in the company he runs. Before the amazing variety arrives, however, another type of abundance was announced on Wednesday evening’s earnings call: Tesla’s investment budget will more than double.

For the bulls, Tesla is finally unleashing its financial firepower to own the future of autonomous vehicles, robots and artificial intelligence. Yet the news came alongside weak fourth-quarter results and the bombshell announcement that Tesla is investing about $2 billion in xAI, Musk’s own artificial intelligence venture. Amid all the plans and targets thrown out on the call, the one certainty is that Tesla will burn a lot of cash this year.