Revenue Growth Slows, Market Reaction Mixed
Tesla's financial report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 shows revenue reached $28.095 billion, a year-over-year increase of 12%, but net profit fell 37% year-over-year to $1.373 billion. Although revenue exceeded Wall Street expectations, adjusted earnings per share fell short, resulting in the stock price dropping nearly 5% in after-hours trading following the release of the report.
Executives noted during a conference call that the profit decline was primarily due to rising costs at the launch of new models, increased investment in AI chip development, and expansion expenses for the autonomous taxi network. Despite short-term profit pressures, the company sees strong long-term growth potential.
CEO Elon Musk stated, "We are in a strategic transition from a traditional electric vehicle manufacturer to an integrated AI and energy company."
Autonomous Taxi Deployment Accelerates
During the conference call, Musk revealed that Tesla plans to launch autonomous taxi services in 8 to 10 major U.S. cities within the year. The Austin fleet is already in operational testing, with accumulated mileage exceeding 250,000 miles, while the San Francisco Bay Area fleet has surpassed 1 million miles.
He pointed out that by the end of the year, the company will first remove safety drivers in Austin and gradually launch pilots in Boston, Nevada, and Arizona. "We will advance with great caution, ensuring safety exceeds regulatory requirements," Musk said.
Tesla executives added that to date, cumulative mileage under the "Full Self-Driving Supervision Mode" has reached 6 billion miles, and the company expects to fully deploy the "No Safety Driver Mode" by 2025.
Energy Storage and Solar Business Continue to Expand
In addition to its main automotive business, energy storage and energy products have become new growth engines for Tesla. The company revealed that orders for Megapack and Powerwall products are sufficient, with delivery volumes expected to reach a new high next year. The new modular energy storage system "Mega Block" will be mass-produced at the Houston factory to meet the needs of AI data centers and utility companies.
Moreover, the U.S. residential solar market is rapidly recovering under policy support. Tesla's new solar leasing plan has received positive feedback, and the solar panel production line at the Buffalo factory will begin delivering products to customers in the first quarter of next year. Executives stated that the company will enhance its North American energy business capacity layout over the next two years and seek cooperation with AI infrastructure enterprises.
Optimus Humanoid Robot Project Achieves Milestone Breakthrough
Musk confirmed at the meeting that Tesla's humanoid robot "Optimus" now has the ability to independently navigate the grounds and perform tasks, guiding visitors to specific locations. He described this project as "one of Tesla's most challenging yet promising innovations."
He emphasized that the biggest technical bottleneck comes from the design of the robot's hand and forearm structure, whose complexity surpasses that of all other parts combined. Tesla is attempting to establish an independent supply chain system to support mass production, with annual production capacity expected to reach the millions.
Musk also mentioned, "If Tesla eventually builds a large robot network, I hope to still maintain enough influence over it." This remark has been interpreted externally as another focus on the company's governance structure and voting power.
Chip Collaboration on Two Fronts, Not Replacing NVIDIA
Addressing concerns about the $16.5 billion Samsung chip agreement, Musk clarified that Tesla will adopt a "dual factory parallel" strategy for AI5 chip production, with TSMC and Samsung co-manufacturing, and production bases located in Arizona and Texas respectively.
He emphasized that the performance of AI5 chips has improved approximately 40 times compared to the previous generation AI4 chips, with breakthrough efficiency in power consumption and cost control. "Our cooperation with Samsung and TSMC is complementary rather than a replacement."
Musk further pointed out that Tesla does not plan to completely replace NVIDIA's hardware architecture, and in the future, will continue to use both self-developed AI chips and NVIDIA GPUs for data center training to build a more redundant AI architecture.
From Manufacturing Firm to AI Ecosystem
Analysts believe that Tesla's third-quarter financial report shows that the company is accelerating its transformation from an automotive manufacturer to an AI-driven technology group. Whether in self-developed chips, autonomous taxis, humanoid robots, or energy storage systems, Tesla is attempting to build an ecosystem that integrates transportation, energy, and computing.
Musk concluded, "AI will permeate all our businesses, from vehicles to robots, to energy and data centers. Tesla's future is not only about electric vehicles, but a reality-based network driven by intelligent computing."
