Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., right, departs from court for the SolarCity trial in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., on Monday, July 12, 2021.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sniped at Silicon Valley neighbor Apple twice during a conference call to discuss Tesla earnings on Monday.
Although the companies don’t compete directly today, Apple is reportedly building an electric self-driving vehicle under a project code-named Titan, and has attracted a number of engineers and executives away from Tesla. The Titan project is reportedly run by Doug Field, who returned to Apple in 2018 after five years at Tesla.
When asked about Tesla’s supply chain, Musk said that there’s a misperception that Tesla uses a lot of cobalt, a key material in the production of lithium-ion cells used in both smartphones and electric cars.
“Apple uses I think almost 100% cobalt in their batteries and cell phones and laptops, but Tesla uses no cobalt in the iron-phosphate packs, and almost none in the nickel-based chemistries,” Musk said. “On on a weighted-average basis we might use 2% cobalt compared to say, Apple’s 100% cobalt. Anyway, so it’s just really not a factor.”
Some cobalt mined in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been linked to human rights abuses such as child labor. In 2019, Apple, in addition to Tesla and other major technology companies, was named as defendants in a human rights lawsuit, according to The Guardian.
In a conflict minerals report published earlier this year, Apple said it publishes a list of all conflict minerals and cobalt smelters and refiners, and all of Apple’s cobalt suppliers participated in audits in 2020. An Apple representative didn’t return a request for comment.
Later in the call, Musk made a crack about Apple’s so-called “walled garden,” which is named because Apple strictly controls what software can be installed on the iPhone through its App Store. Apple’s walled garden is facing scrutiny from lawmakers and other companies, including in an antitrust trial that took place earlier this year after it was sued by Epic Games over App Store fees and policies.
“I think we do want to emphasize that our goal is to support the advent of sustainable energy,” Musk said in response to a question about letting competitors use its charger network. “It is not to create a walled garden and use that to bludgeon our competitors which is used by some companies.”
Musk then faked a cough and said, “Apple.”
During the call, Musk said he likely would not appear on future Tesla earnings calls unless he has “something really important” that he needs to say.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he hosts a Rose Garden Club lunch at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 21, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump said in a post on Thursday that the National Guard was preparing to “surge” San Francisco, but he was swayed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Salesforce Marc Benioff and others to hold off on the deployment.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he also spoke with Democratic Mayor Daniel Lurie, who “was making substantial progress” on crime.
“Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and others have called saying that the future of San Francisco is great,” Trump wrote.
The reversal marks a major political win for the city of San Francisco and Lurie, who is in his first term.
“The president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco,” Lurie said in a statement. “Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning.”
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Lurie, a moderate Democrat, has taken a different approach with Trump than other California officials, like Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Governor Gavin Newsom, who publicly fire back at the president’s administration. Instead, Lurie consistently does not evoke Trump by name publicly or privately.
In recent addresses on the potential for a deployment, Lurie has touted the city’s progress on business development and crime, often citing data that shows San Franciscans feel the city is on the right track.
“We have work to do, and we would welcome continued partnerships with the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Attorney to get drugs and drug dealers off our streets, but having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery,” Lurie said.
The potential Guard deployment became a larger flashpoint when Benioff told the New York Times that he’d support Trump’s call for federal troops to be sent to San Francisco.
His sentiments were publicly supported by Elon Musk and David Sacks, high-profile techies with close ties to the Trump administration.
On Friday, facing mounting criticism, Benioff backtracked.
“Having listened closely to my fellow San Franciscans and our local officials, and after the largest and safest Dreamforce in our history, I do not believe the National Guard is needed to address safety in San Francisco,” he posted on X.
A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent fires a non-lethal round at protesters as they clear a path for vehicles to enter Coast Guard Island on October 23, 2025 in Oakland, California. Federal agents have arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area for immigration operations.
Crime rates are down 30% from 2024, homicide levels hit their lowest levels in 70 years and car break-ins haven’t been at current levels in 22 years.
Meanwhile, event bookings and tourism are on the rise, residential real estate is becoming more scarce and the office market is heating up.
Business momentum in the city is largely built on the AI boom, post-pandemic. New CBRE data show venture funding in 2025 is expected to surpass the record reached in 2021, thanks in large part to AI investments in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick speaks at a business reception at Lancaster House in central London, with attendees including government ministers from both the UK and US and representatives from major UK companies, as part of the second state visit to the UK by US President Donald Trump. Picture date: Thursday Sept. 18, 2025.
Jordan Pettitt | Via Reuters
The U.S. government is not in talks with quantum computing companies to take equity stakes in the firms in exchange for federal funding, a Commerce Department official told CNBC.
“The Commerce Department is not currently negotiating equity stakes with quantum computing companies,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The denial comes after the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said that the Trump administration was in talks with companies including IonQ, Rigetti Computing, and D-Wave Quantum.
The Trump administration has taken recent equity stakes in companies and industries seen as vital to U.S. national security.
In August, it took a 10% stake in Intel, the nation’s leading semiconductor manufacturer. It also took a 15% stake in MP Materials, which mines rare earth elements. China has restricted exports of rare earths.
Experts say that the U.S. government’s growing interest in taking stakes in private companies is unprecedented in recent decades.
Trump administration officials such as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have argued that the government should benefit from a company’s success, especially where federal funds are involved.
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Quantum computing has attracted significant attention in recent years, with some of the most powerful institutions in the world spending millions in a race to develop and build the first useful and practical quantum computer, which could be completed in the next five years, according to optimistic predictions.
When there is a useful quantum computer, it would be able to do tasks that would require so much computing time on a traditional computer that it would be infeasible, such as discovering molecules that could be useful medicines or factoring large numbers.
Right now, there isn’t anything useful that quantum computers can do. The machines are purely for research.
But governments keep a close eye on the technology because it has military implications, including the potential to be able to decipher encrypted military communications.
Although the industry is attracting billions in investments, including from the federal government, it has not generated significant revenue yet.
Quantum computing companies generated under $750 million in revenue in 2024, according to a McKinsey report.
On Wednesday, Google claimed a quantum breakthrough in which it conducted research that showed that a quantum computer can run an algorithm over 13,000 times faster than a traditional computer, and that it could be verified by a second quantum computer, an advancement over past research.
Super Micro Computer shares fell 6% on Thursday after the company released weak preliminary results for its fiscal first quarter of 2026.
The server maker said it expects to report $5 billion in revenue for the quarter, down from the $6 billion to $7 billion guidance that the company had previously issued.
Super Micro said “design win upgrades” pushed some expected first-quarter revenue to the second quarter.
“We see customer demand accelerating, and we are gaining AI share, reiterating revenue of at least $33B for FY 2026 with the expectation of delivering more.” Super Micro CEO Charles Liang said in a statement.
Super Micro said it has had “recent design wins” of more than $12 billion, and that delivery has been requested during its fiscal second quarter.
The company will provide further updates on its expected second-quarter deliveries and revenues during its earnings call on Nov. 4, when it will officially report its first-quarter results.