Connect with us

Published

on

Elon Musk on stage before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY on Sunday, October 27, 2024. 

The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Shares of Tesla climbed more than 6% in midmorning trading Friday, pushing the electric vehicle maker’s market cap past $1 trillion.

The company’s stock has rallied about 27% this week after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election and investors have grown optimistic that the former leader’s return to the White House could benefit Tesla. Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, has been a key ally for Trump throughout his campaign, pouring at least $130 million into a pro-Trump campaign effort.

Tesla had a market cap of $807.1 billion through Tuesday’s close. Before this week’s rally, shares of the carmaker were up about 1% for the year. Tesla’s stock is now up about 27% year to date.

Tesla market cap

CNBC

Tesla rejoins a growing club of tech names that are now worth more than $1 trillion, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, AlphabetAmazon and Meta (though all but Meta are worth more than $2 trillion). Tesla’s market cap first crossed the $1 trillion mark in October 2021.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives has said that a potential Trump administration could spell less regulation for Tesla and other companies.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched in the EV industry and this dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players (BYDNio, etc.) from flooding the U.S. market over the coming years,” Ives wrote in a note to clients this week.

Trump has said previously he may cut the federal $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit. Those credits have helped to drive sales of Tesla vehicles historically.

In its most recent earnings update, Tesla reported revenue of $25.18 billion and net income of $2.17 billion in the third quarter.

CEO Musk said on the earnings call that his “best guess” was that “vehicle growth” would reach 20% to 30% next year, due to “lower cost vehicles” and the “advent of autonomy.”

Tesla has been promising, and developing, driverless vehicle technology for more than a decade. Its key U.S. competitor, Alphabet-owned Waymo, has pulled ahead and is already operating commercial robotaxi services in several major cities.

On the third-quarter call, Musk said he would use his sway with a Trump-Vance administration to establish a “federal approval process for autonomous vehicles.” Currently, approvals happen at the state level, which the CEO sees as a regulatory hurdle Tesla will need to overcome once it finally offers more than partially automated driving systems.

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the year Tesla’s market cap crossed $1 trillion for the first time. Tesla’s net income was $2.17 billion in the third quarter. An earlier version misstated the figure.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Continue Reading

Technology

The Street’s bad call on Palo Alto – plus, two portfolio stocks reach new highs

Published

on

By

The Street's bad call on Palo Alto – plus, two portfolio stocks reach new highs

Continue Reading

Technology

Govini founder Eric Gillespie released on $1 million bond with Pentagon probe ‘ongoing’

Published

on

By

Govini founder Eric Gillespie released on  million bond with Pentagon probe 'ongoing'

Mug shot of Eric Gillespie, Govini Founder and Chairman.

Courtesy: Pennsylvania Attorney General

Govini founder Eric Gillespie, who is charged with four felonies, including multiple counts of unlawful contact with a minor, was released on bail.

Gillespie, who lives in Pittsburgh, posted a $1 million bond after his court appearance Thursday. He is not allowed to travel, and his passport has been revoked.

He was initially denied bail following his arrest on Nov. 7, with the judge citing flight risk and public safety concerns.

David Shrager of Shrager Defense Attorneys, who represents Gillespie, insisted that his client did not break any laws.

“Mr. Gillespie has never contacted a minor, either online or in person, and the facts clearly prove that,” Shrager said after the hearing on Thursday.

“Completely false statements, including the use of artificial intelligence between adults made in the context of an online fantasy chat, are not illegal,” he added.

Gillespie’s next court date is Dec. 18.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said Gillespie sent lewd photos to an agent posing as a father offering his daughter to be abused, and made graphic comments about sexual acts with children.

Gillespie, 57, commented on the security of the encrypted platforms being used in the chats between him and the undercover agent, according to a criminal complaint obtained by CNBC.

Gillespie is the founder of defense contractor Govini.

He was listed on the company’s website on the leadership page as a board member as recently as Aug. 17, according to an archived version of the page available on the Wayback Machine.

The company terminated Gillespie on Nov. 12.

Earlier this year, Govini landed a nearly $1 billion contract with the Department of Defense. The company’s suite of artificial intelligence-enabled applications is used by every department of the U.S. military and other federal agencies.

Following his arrest, Pentagon officials said they were looking into Gillespie and possible security issues.

CNBC has repeatedly asked the Department of Defense about updates on the status of the probe and potential security concerns with Govini or Gillespie.

“We don’t comment on ongoing investigations,” a Pentagon spokesperson said Thursday.

Continue Reading

Technology

Tech stocks set for big losing week as AI names get rocked after Nvidia earnings

Published

on

By

Tech stocks set for big losing week as AI names get rocked after Nvidia earnings

Jensen Huang, NVIDIA founder and CEO, has a Q&A session at a press conference during the APEC CEO summit on October 31, 2025 in Gyeongju, South Korea.

Woohae Cho | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Even Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang couldn’t save the tech and artificial intelligence trade this week.

The chip giant’s talismanic leader trumpeted “off the charts” chip sales and dismissed talk of an “AI bubble,” and for a while, the tide lifted all boats.

“There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble,” Huang said during an earnings call this week. “From our vantage point, we see something very different.”

The buzz from the blowout report quickly reversed, sending the AI winners deeply into the red — and few beneficiaries were left unscathed.

Every member of the Magnificent 7, except for Alphabet, was tracking for a losing week, with Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft staring down the biggest losses.

Amazon and Microsoft have led the group’s drop lower, falling about 6% this week. Meanwhile, Alphabet has gained nearly 8%. The search giant is also the only megacap of the group on pace for November gains thanks to a boost from the launch of Gemini 3.

Oracle, which is another major Nvidia customer, slumped about 10%. The chipmaker also supplies major model developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

Read more CNBC tech news

Chip stocks have also declined amid the broader tech market turmoil. Advanced Micro Devices and Micron were on pace for 17% losses. Marvell Technology has slumped about 10%. Quantum computing stocks Rigetti, IonQ and D-Wave have dropped at least 10%

CoreWeave, which buys and rents out Nvidia’s chips in data centers, initially soared on the chipmaker’s earnings report, but swiftly reversed course. The company’s stock is looking at an 8% blow this week.

AI fever was cooling in the runup to Nvidia’s earnings report on Wednesday, and investors looked to the print to alleviate fears that the AI bubble was on shaky ground. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, the stock has helped power the market to new all-time highs.

But concerns have mounted in recent weeks as tech stocks hit stretched valuations.

Major investors, including Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio told CNBC Thursday that the market is definitely in a bubble.

Much of the worries have stemmed from a boom in capital expenditures spending to support AI, with few signs of a payoff in view for many of the players.

Investor Michael Burry recently accused some of the biggest cloud and infrastructure providers of understating depreciation expenses and estimating a longer life cycle for their chips, calling it “one of the more common frauds of the modern era.”

Earlier this month, Burry revealed bets against Nvidia and Palantir.

Shares of the software analytics company, which supplies AI tools to the government and businesses, are down 11% this week. The stock has shed nearly a quarter of its value this month.

WATCH: Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio: We are definitely in a bubble, but that doesn’t mean you should sell

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio: We are definitely in a bubble, but that doesn't mean you should sell

Continue Reading

Trending