SpaceX and Tesla Deepen AI Collaboration, Targeting 'Physical AI,' Morgan Stanley Says

The technological and operational collaboration between SpaceX and Tesla Inc. is deepening significantly as both companies target leadership in "physical AI," the application of artificial intelligence to real-world robotics, energy, and manufacturing. According to a new report from Morgan Stanley, the two Elon Musk-led firms increasingly "share tech, talent, and infrastructure in a shared mission of converting energy to intelligence."

A Two-Way Partnership

The Morgan Stanley analysts, led by Adam Jonas, detailed a symbiotic relationship where each company provides critical components to the other. Evidence of this link was found in SpaceX's S-1 filing, which contained 71 distinct mentions of "Tesla," with the bank noting 34% referenced direct collaboration.

• SpaceX provides Tesla with: Compute capacity, projected to reach 4.9 gigawatts by the end of 2027, and satellite-based connectivity via Starlink, which is being integrated into Tesla's vehicle lineup.
• Tesla provides SpaceX with: Manufacturing expertise from its 135,000-plus employees, robots that can serve as data-collecting nodes, and significant hardware purchases. In 2025, SpaceX bought $506 million in Tesla Megapacks and $131 million in Cybertrucks to support its Colossus compute cluster, the report stated.

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The 'Physical AI' Frontier

Morgan Stanley posits that as large language models (LLMs) approach performance limits, investor focus will shift to applying AI in the physical world. The bank's analysts argue this dynamic "reveals a wide open lane in physical AI that these two companies may be uniquely capable of addressing, separately or, more likely, jointly."

This view is supported by comments from SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who stated, "There’s no question that there’s synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures." The report also highlights joint projects like a chip factory called Terafab, reportedly being built with Intel in Texas for over $119 billion, and a co-developed agentic platform named Macrohard, underscoring the scale of their shared ambitions.