Tesla profit falls as AI and robot spending tops $5.8 billion
What's new: The company posted negative free cash flow of $1.09 billion and said capital spending will keep rising for 2 to 3 years.
Tesla's second-quarter profit fell sharply as the company poured more money into artificial intelligence, robotaxis and humanoid robots, even as vehicle sales and revenue beat expectations. The Austin, Texas, company reported net income of $1.11 billion, or 32 cents a share, while adjusted earnings of 33 cents missed analyst forecasts. Revenue rose 26% to $28.24 billion, helped by deliveries of 480,216 vehicles. But spending climbed fast: research and development rose about 49% to $2.37 billion, operating costs jumped 47% to $4.35 billion, and total second-quarter spending tied to Musk's AI push reached $5.8 billion. Tesla also reported negative free cash flow of $1.09 billion and expects capital expenditures to exceed $25 billion as it expands robotaxi, Optimus and AI computing capacity.