Elon Musk, founder and chief engineer of SpaceX speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition March 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. Musk answered a range of questions relating to SpaceX projects during his appearance at the conference.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
Elon Musk reassured Tesla‘s commitment to China, saying the automaker will continue to expand its investments in the country.
Musk’s comments came in a pre-recorded question-and-answer style stream at the World Internet Conference, hosted by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
It’s the second time this month Musk was highly complimentary of the nation that’s imperative to his electric vehicle company, saying it’s a “global leader digitalization.” Less than two weeks ago, Musk, during another pre-recorded stream at the World New Energy Vehicle Congress, said Chinese automakers were the “most competitive in the world.”
“My frank observation is that China spends a lot of resources and efforts applying the latest digital technologies in different industries, including the automobile industry, making China a global leader in digitalization,” Musk said in the latest video. “Tesla will continue to expand our investment and R&D efforts in China.”
Tesla has been trying to improve its reputation in China after a slew of negative press. The company has faced regulatory scrutiny around its privacy and a handful of recalls in China. Beijing had reportedly restricted or banned the use of Tesla’s electric vehicles by some state and military personnel.
Musk called out data protection in his speech, specifying what types of data are stored locally.
“At Tesla, we are glad to see a number of laws and regulations that have been released to strengthen data management,” Musk said.
“Tesla has set up a data center in China to localize all data generated from our business here, including production, sales, service and charging. All personally identifiable information is security stores in China without being transferred overseas. Only in very rare cases, for example, spare parts orders from overseas is data approved for transfer internationally.”
Talk about a monster quarter. Apple delivered a great September quarter Thursday evening, even as iPhone supply was constrained by strong demand. The stock really got going after the company’s strong forecast for the holiday quarter. Revenue in Apple’s fiscal 2025 fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 27, rose 8% year over year to $102.47 billion, outpacing the $102.26 billion consensus estimate compiled by LSEG. Earnings per share of $1.85 increased 91% (or 13% when excluding a one-time charge in the year-ago period), exceeding the $1.77 consensus estimate, according to LSEG. AAPL YTD mountain Apple YTD Shares of Apple jumped as much as 5% in after-hours trading to around $285 before cooling off to around $278. The stock, which got off to a horrible start in 2025, has jumped roughly 30% in the past three months, as of Thursday’s close. For the year, it has gained more than 8% — and earlier this week, it joined the $4 trillion market cap club. Bottom line In addition to reporting a September quarter record for sales earnings and operating cash flow, the higher margin services segment set an all-time revenue record across all geographic regions. Overall, Apple set September quarter records in all regions – the Americas, Europe, Japan, and the rest of Asia-Pacific – except Greater China. While Greater China sales were down in the quarter, much of that was due to iPhone supply constraints. On the post-earnings conference call, CEO Tim Cook stated that he expects to see the region return to growth in the current quarter. Apple’s consolidated gross profit margin also exceeded the high end of management’s prior guidance, expanding by 70 basis points sequentially and nearly 100 basis points, or 1 percentage point, year over year, thanks to a favorable sales mix that came despite a $1.1 billion tariff-related cost headwind. Why we own it Apple’s dominant hardware and growing services businesses provide a deep competitive moat and plenty of bundling opportunities. Management’s net cash-neutral strategy provides confidence that free cash flow will continue to fund dividends and buybacks. Competitors: Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, Dell , and HP Inc. Most recent buy : April 8, 2014 Initiation : Dec. 2, 2013 While iPhone sales grew 6% to $49.03 billion, they did come up short of expectations. However, Cook noted that it was due to a lack of supply for several iPhone 16 models and newer iPhone 17 models, as demand is very strong. Perhaps most importantly, management guided current quarter (fiscal 2026 first quarter) revenue to be well above expectations, with Cook saying on the post-earnings conference call that December quarter revenue will “be the best ever for the company and the best ever for iPhone.” It’s clear the iPhone 17 is seeing a ton of demand – and the massive installed base of active devices, which did indeed hit a new all-time high, is driving continued growth in services. Given the iPhone momentum and management reaffirming that a new, smarter artificial intelligence Siri will debut in 2026, we continue to think that the best thing members can do with shares of Apple is “own them, not trade them.” We are, therefore, increasing our price target to $300 from $240. We are, however, maintaining our 2 rating, as we wait for a better price level to upgrade shares back to our buy-equivalent 1 rating. Products highlights Products revenue achieved a September quarter record, driven by growth in iPhones and Macs. While growing more than 5% to $73.72 billion, Product sales did miss expectations. Apple’s installed base of active devices reached yet another all-time high. It was a September quarter record for the iPhone despite supply constraints, as the device achieved September quarter records in Latin America, the Middle East, and South Asia. In India, iPhone sales reached all-time highs. It was an all-time high for the iPhone’s active installed base and a September quarter record for upgraders. Mac sales, driven by strength in MacBook Air, were up in all geographic segments, with CFO Kevan Parekh calling out strong double-digit growth in emerging markets. The installed base for Mac also reached a new all-time high, with nearly half of all buyers being new to the product line. Mac sales increased 12.7% to $8.73 billion in the quarter. iPad installed base also reached a new all-time high. September quarter record for upgraders, with over half of buyers being new to the product. Sales for the iPad were flat at $6.95 billion. Sales in the Wearables, Home & Accessories segment dipped slightly to $9.01 billion but beat estimates. They were driven by growth in the Apple Watch and AirPods, both of which saw their installed bases reach all-time highs. Apple Watch upgraders also set a new September quarter record. Services highlights All-time revenue record for the Services segment – up 15% in the September quarter to $28.75 billion. All-time revenue records were realized in advertising, App Store, cloud services, music, payment services, and video. All-time highs were realized for both transacting and paid accounts. Outlook Apple doesn’t provide formal guidance. However, we did get some exciting commentary about the current quarter. As Parekh noted on the call, this outlook assumed no change in global tariff rates or policies and no change in the macroeconomic outlook, which has been worsening. December quarter revenue is expected to increase 10% to 12% versus the year-ago period, a whole heck of a lot better than the 6% the Street was anticipating, according to LSEG. If realized, it would mark a record quarter for the company. iPhone revenue is expected to grow at a double-digit rate year over year, which would also amount to Apple putting up its best quarterly iPhone results ever. Mac sales are seen up against a difficult year-over-year comparison, given the launch of the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and iMac in the year-ago period. Services revenue is expected to grow at a year-over-year rate similar to what Apple reported for all of fiscal year 2025, which was about 13.5%, ahead of the roughly 12% the Street was looking for, according to FactSet. Gross margin for the December quarter is expected to be between 47% and 48%, exceeding expectations at the midpoint, despite an estimated $1.4 billion tariff-related cost headwind. Operating expenses are expected to be between $18.1 billion and $18.5 billion, higher than expected; however, acceptable in our view as Apple is ramping up investments in artificial intelligence. Capital allocation Apple ended the September quarter with $132 billion in cash and marketable securities. Excluding debt, net cash was $34 billion. During the quarter, Apple returned $24 billion to shareholders, including $3.9 billion in dividends and equivalents and another $20 billion via share repurchases. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long AAPL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
SpaceX’s Starship rocket 38 launches during the 11th test flight on October 13, 2025 as seen from South Padre Island in Texas.
Gabriel V. Cardenas | Afp | Getty Images
SpaceX said it has pitched NASA a “simplified mission” to put astronauts back on the moon following criticisms over delays by Sean Duffy, the space agency’s acting administrator.
In a company blog post out Thursday, Elon Musk’s aerospace and defense contractor said: “We’ve shared and are formally assessing a simplified mission architecture and concept of operations that we believe will result in a faster return to the Moon while simultaneously improving crew safety.”
Earlier this month, Duffy said in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, that SpaceX was behind schedule on building its lunar landing system for NASA’s Artemis III mission and that the agency would reopen the landing contract for that mission to competitors such as Jeff Bezos‘ rocket maker Blue Origin.
A NASA spokesperson in an email to CNBC said that the agency “has received and is evaluating plans from both SpaceX and Blue Origin for acceleration of HLS production.”
“Following the shutdown, the agency will issue an RFI to the broader aerospace industry for their proposals,” the spokesperson said. “A committee of NASA subject matter experts is being assembled to evaluate each proposal and determine the best path forward to win the second space race given the urgency of adversarial threats to peace and transparency on the Moon.”
NASA had previously said that SpaceX and Blue Origin would have until Oct. 29th to propose new ways to speed up the project.
Musk initially responded to Duffy by posting to his social network X, “Sean Dummy is trying to kill NASA!” In another post, Musk wrote: “The person responsible for America’s space program can’t have a 2 digit IQ.”
SpaceX’s massive Starship has flown 11 test flights so far, uncrewed. The last two flights were deemed successful, but the company has not yet shown all the in-orbit refueling capabilities it requires before embarking on the Artemis III, manned lunar mission.
Blue Origin has been developing a lunar lander for NASA and has received about $835 million from the space agency since their contract began in 2023. The company plans to launch a smaller scale version of their lander, known as Blue Moon Mark 1.
Meanwhile, China is aiming to land its astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade.
In September, in an all-hands meetings with NASA employees, Duffy told his staff that he was irked by “shade thrown” on the space agency at a Senate hearing in which some attendees doubted that the U.S. could put astronauts back on the Moon before China could land its astronauts there.
Besides its lunar mission, China also announced it is sending a new crew to its orbiting lab, the Tiangong space station, this week. China built this space station after it was excluded from access to the International Space Station due to U.S. national security concerns.
SpaceX is paid when it achieves different milestones under its NASA contract for the HLS (human landing system integrated lander).
According to USA Spending, which tracks federal contracts, NASA has already paid approximately $2.7 billion to SpaceX for the “design, development, manufacture, test, launch, demonstration and engineering support” of the HLS. The agency is obligated to pay around another $300 million for milestones SpaceX achieved, and Musk’s company stands to earn a total of $4.5 billion (or another $1.5 billion) from the HLS contract if they achieve all milestones.
SpaceX today said, in their company blog post, that they “self-funded” 90% or more of the program, which would imply they have spent over $30 billion already.
As CNBC previously reported, some NASA employees have been required to work without pay for the space agency during the federal government shutdown if their jobs support Artemis missions.
SpaceX and Blue Origin did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
While many of the largest tech companies race to build massive data centers for their artificial intelligence ambitions, Apple is taking a more modest approach.
Instead of simply buying as many AI chips as possible, Apple buys computing capacity from outside partners, finance chief Kevan Parekh explained Thursday on the company’s fourth quarter earnings call.
When Apple does build servers for its AI software, the company is using its own chips — not those from Nvidia or AMD — to power a service it calls Private Cloud Compute.
“I don’t see us moving away from this hybrid model, where we leverage both first-party capacity as well as leverage third-party capacity,” Parekh said.
Apple’s results on Thursday closed out a busy week of earnings for the tech industry. Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta reported on Wednesday, while Amazon reported on Thursday.
All of the companies said they planned to boost spending on capital expenditures to secure the computing capacity needed to develop next-generation AI and serve users.
Alphabet said it expects to spend about $92 billion on capital expenditures this year. Microsoft said it spent about $34.9 billion on capex during the September quarter and will spend more in capex for its fiscal 2026 than it did the year prior.
Meta stock got whacked after CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the company’s plan to spend about $71 billion on AI chips and other expenses in 2025. On Thursday, Amazon raised its 2025 spending forecast 6% to $125 billion.
Compared to them, Apple’s barely spending at all.
In its fiscal 2025, which ended in September, Apple spent $12.72 billion on capital expenditures.
And yet, that’s up 35% from what it spent last year, a significant increase. Parekh said Apple is expecting further increases. Analysts expect Apple’s capex to increase to $14.3 billion this year, according to FactSet.
“In ’25 we did have capex costs associated with building out our Private Cloud Compute environment in our first party data centers,” Parekh said. Earlier this month, Apple announced that it was starting to ship those servers from a factory in Houston.
Last year, the company released Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI tools that runs on the company’s chips that can summarize notifications, generate images like new emojis, and pass complicated queries to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Apple Intelligence has received mixed reviews from critics, and one of its centerpieces, an improved Siri assistant, was delayed by the company in May until 2026. The improved Siri is on track to come out next year, Apple said Thursday.
But if Apple’s decision to take a different approach to AI puts the company’s hardware sales at risk, it hasn’t happened yet.
Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach that the consumer response to the company’s iPhone 17 models was “off the chart,” and the company said that overall sales would rise between 10% and 12% in the company’s December quarter. Apple executives were effusive on a call with analysts about the new iPhone’s popularity.
Still, Apple executives are aware that that AI features like Apple Intelligence are a factor in smartphone purchasing decisions.
“We’re very bullish on it becoming a greater factor,” Cook said.
Apple’s “hybrid” approach means that some of what the company spends on compute for AI ends up as an operating expense, instead of a capital expense. Analysts pressed Apple executives that the company’s operating expenses rose 11% in the past year to $15.91 billion.
“We are increasing our investments in AI, while also continuing to invest in our product roadmap,” Parekh said. “The vast majority of the increase to our operating expenses are driven by R&D.”
