During Elon Musk’s two months in Washington, D.C., Tesla shares have been on a precipitous decline, losing over 40% of their value.

Protests and campaigns against Tesla, Musk and his work in the Trump White House have erupted around the world. Criminal acts of vandalism and arson have also targeted some Tesla electric vehicles, showrooms and charging stations in a string of incidents in the U.S. and across Europe.

At an all-hands meeting with Tesla employees on Thursday evening, Musk addressed some of those issues, while trying to reassure employees that they were still in good hands, and to “hang onto your stock.” The shares rose 4% on Friday.

“It’s very difficult like for people in the stock market, especially those that look in the rearview mirror — which is most people — to imagine a future where suddenly a 10 million vehicle fleet has five to ten times the usefulness,” Musk said, touting his vision for autonomous vehicles that he’s long promised. “It’s so profound and there’s no comparison with anything in the past that it does not compute. But it will compute in the future.”

In recent months, Tesla’s new vehicle sales have fallen in Europe and in parts of the U.S. and China. The company is facing trade uncertainty after multiple executive orders from President Trump imposed new tariffs on goods and materials from Canada, Mexico and China, home to crucial Tesla suppliers. National car shopping site Edmunds said this week that Tesla owners are trading in their electric vehicles at record levels.

“If you read the news it feels like, you know, Armageddon,” Musk said on the livestream on Thursday. “It’s like, I can’t walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire. Like what’s going on? Some people, it’s like listen, I understand if you don’t wanna buy our product, but you don’t have to burn it down. That’s a bit unreasonable.”

He followed up saying, “This is psycho, stop being psycho!”

Employees laughed with him.

Musk spent much of the meeting hyping Tesla’s technology, or the prospects of it.

“What’s the most exciting future that you could possibly imagine?” he asked rhetorically. He answered that it’s “a future of abundance for all,” where robotaxis, artificial intelligence and robots now in development at Tesla will bring about a future “where you could literally just have anything you want.”

Musk celebrated the best-seller status of the Tesla Model Y, and said the electric SUV would be the “best-selling car on Earth again this year” and “available worldwide.” He boasted that the Cybertruck, Tesla’s angular steel pickup truck, had become the top-selling fully electric pickup. Despite a massive Cybertruck recall announced earlier on Thursday, Musk also lauded the vehicle because it had attained a 5-star rating for crash safety.

He thanked Tesla employees for the refreshed version of the Model Y, saying the company’s supply chains on three continents proved a challenge in getting the car to market.

Musk boasted about the forthcoming Cybercab, a two-seater with no steering wheel or brakes, and EVs that will be upgraded to have robotaxi capabilities with a software update. It’s a promise he’s been making for years. In 2016, Musk told Tesla owners that their cars would be able to make a driverless cross-country trip by the end of 2018.

On Tesla’s last earnings call, Musk said a driverless ride-hail service is coming to Austin, Texas in June, using existing Tesla vehicles and a version of the company’s FSD or “Full Self-Driving” software, which currently requires a driver at the wheel ready to steer or brake at any time.

Musk said on Thursday that the Cybercab will be produced in Austin, as will the company’s humanoid robot, dubbed the Optimus. The Optimus is now being assembled at the company’s Fremont, California factory, he said, and Tesla aims to produce about 5,000 units this year.

In both the robotaxi and humanoid robotics markets, Tesla faces stiff competition.

Alphabet’s Waymo is scaling its driverless ride-hailing offering in more U.S. markets, recently launching in Austin. And Chinese EV makers, including Zeekr, plan to make their equivalents to Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD available as standard options.

Meanwhile, a number of humanoid robotics developers, including Apptronik, Boston Dynamics and Unitree, are working to bring their models to market. Boston Dynamics, in partnership with RAI Institute, released a new video this week showing their electric Atlas humanoid robot walking, running, crawling, and doing gymnastics.

Still, Musk says Tesla’s Optimus is “the most sophisticated humanoid robot on Earth,” even though it’s now “learning to walk and catch balls” and in most of its major demonstrations has been operated by people.

Tesla employees will be first to get access to the robots, he said, adding that one day they’ll function like Star Wars characters R2-D2 and C-3PO.

“We will offer Optimus robots first to Tesla employees,” Musk said. “There are some pluses and minuses to that — probably have a few bugs. But it’s gonna be very cool.”

WATCH: Musk has neglected Tesla

Technology giants Amazon, IBM, Google, Intel and Microsoft are all working on quantum technology, as are various other companies like Rigetti, IonQ, Quantum Computing Inc. and D-Wave Quantum Inc.

The latest entrant into the space is Nvidia, with CEO Jensen Huang announcing in March that the company will build a quantum computing research center in Boston. 

“The surge in excitement now is driven by a convergence of technological advancements, funding and clearer pathways to real world applications,” said Matt Langione, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group. “By some estimates, greater than $50 billion have been pledged to quantum technologies, of which quantum computing is one, by governments around the world.”

Experts say quantum computing has the potential to efficiently solve problems that would be taxing if not impossible for classical computers, though this does not mean that the technology will replace classical computers entirely. 

“Quantum computing will actually drive more classical computing because they’re very complementary,” Langione said. “Future problems that are solved by quantum computers will always be solved by hybrid setups, where you have a classical computer doing the part of the algorithm where classical computers are more efficient, and a quantum computer performing the part of the algorithm where quantum computers are more efficient.” 

For example, quantum systems could be more efficient for things like coming up with new drug therapies or materials for better batteries. Analysts at McKinsey and Company estimate that the four industries likely to see the earliest economic impact from quantum computing are mobility, chemicals, financial services and life sciences, which stand to gain up to $2 trillion in value by 2035. 

“It’s a new class of computation that I think can dramatically change most aspects of industry, commerce and science,” said Peter Barrett, founder and general partner at venture capital firm Playground Global, which is also a major investor in quantum computing startup PsiQuantum.

Despite massive advancements in the field in recent years, quantum computers still aren’t able to solve big real-world problems just yet. 

CNBC visited Silicon Valley startup PsiQuantum to find out how close we are to having a useful quantum computer and spoke to experts about the major challenges this tech still faces as engineers work to transition the tech from lab experimentation to commercial viability. Watch the video to find out more.

CNBC’s Kate Rooney contributed to this report.

It’s been a painful year so far for megacap technology giants and 2025 is only getting started.

Six members of the group are already tracking for significant year-to-date losses, led by a 40% drop in shares of Tesla. Meta Platforms is the only exception, holding on to a slim gain.

The drop in technology stocks comes just two months after leaders flocked to Washington for President Donald Trump‘s inauguration and after many megacaps powered to new highs in the post-election rally after his November victory.

Now, macroeconomic uncertainty, recession fears and concerns over the impact of tariffs have fueled a market selloff that’s pushed all the major averages into negative territory for 2025. Earlier this month, the megacaps lost more than $750 billion in market value in the worst day for the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite since 2022.

Artificial intelligence leaders such as chip darling Nvidia haven’t been spared from the turmoil. The chipmaker has dropped nearly 14% in 2025, shedding nearly a fifth in value since its record high in January. The company, once in the $3 trillion market capitalization club, has lost $767 billion in market value since then, with shares headed for a negative week even after its annual GTC Conference.

Alphabet — another key leader in the AI race — is down more than 14% this year and has lost about a fifth of its value since its record close last month. Microsoft is on pace for its eighth straight negative week and its worst losing streak since February 2008.

Tesla has suffered the most significant losses, shedding about $780 billion in market value since its record close in December. CEO Elon Musk’s close ties to Trump haven’t shielded the stock, with shares on pace for their ninth straight negative week.

Apple has lost nearly $700 billion in market value since its record close in December and dropped 17% in that timeframe, while Amazon is down 18%. The e-commerce giant is on pace for its longest weekly losing streak since May 2022, when it fell seven consecutive weeks.

While Meta has held on to slight gains, the stock has suffered its fair share of turbulence. The stock is headed for a fifth straight negative week, which would match its five-week decline from October 2022. Shares have lost a fifth of their value since their record close on Feb. 14.