SpaceX has bought $329M worth of Tesla Megapacks so far this year
SpaceX has significantly increased its spending on Tesla Megapack battery storage units, purchasing $295 million worth in the second quarter alone and $329 million so far this year, according to its latest earnings report. The purchases highlight the close financial ties between Elon Musk's various companies, with the batteries likely destined for xAI's data centres following SpaceX's acquisition of the AI firm earlier this year.
Before merging with SpaceX, xAI had already bought $430 million worth of Megapacks for its data centres, though its spending slowed to just $34 million in the first quarter of this year before the recent uptick. SpaceX also disclosed acquiring $131 million worth of Tesla Cybertrucks at list price as of December 2025. While xAI's data centres, including its Colossus site in Mississippi, rely heavily on natural gas power, batteries such as the Megapack remain important for providing rapid backup power and smoothing out the fluctuating electricity demands of AI training and inference workloads.
- SpaceX bought $329M of Tesla Megapacks in 2026 so far
- Batteries likely power xAI's data centres after SpaceX-xAI merger
- SpaceX also holds $131M in Tesla Cybertrucks as of December 2025
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SpaceX's boss, Elon Musk, also owns Tesla and the artificial intelligence company xAI. The story is about SpaceX buying large quantities of Tesla's "Megapack" batteries, which are big units used to store electricity and are normally sold to power grids or businesses. These purchases matter because they show money moving between Musk's different companies rather than to unrelated customers.
The batteries are widely believed to be intended for xAI's data centres, huge computer facilities used to train and run AI systems. SpaceX took over xAI earlier this year, merging the two businesses, which is why SpaceX's accounts now show spending that was previously linked to xAI alone.
Data centres need a reliable and steady electricity supply, and batteries like the Megapack help by providing backup power and smoothing out sudden spikes in demand. xAI's main data centre, Colossus in Mississippi, mostly runs on natural gas, so the battery purchases are seen as a supporting measure alongside that main power source rather than a replacement for it.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters of these arrangements would argue that inter-company purchases between Musk-controlled entities reflect sensible vertical integration rather than anything untoward: Tesla's Megapacks are a proven, commercially available product well suited to stabilising power for energy-intensive AI data centres, so it makes practical sense for xAI and SpaceX to buy from a trusted, high-quality supplier rather than shop elsewhere. They would note that the transactions are disclosed in earnings reports at list price, giving investors visibility, and that using battery storage to smooth demand spikes at sites like Colossus is a legitimate engineering need rather than a favour being extended between firms.
The case against
Critics who scrutinise related-party dealings would counter that transactions between companies under common ownership and leadership raise inherent conflict-of-interest concerns, since the same individual sits on both sides of the negotiation and shareholders in one firm may not benefit equally from decisions that favour another. They would argue that even fully disclosed intercompany sales deserve closer independent oversight, given the incentive for capital and demand to be steered toward whichever Musk venture needs support at a given time, rather than being decided purely on arm's-length commercial merit.