Podcast Summary
Podcast: Elon Musk Thinking
Episode: Elon Musk Latest Announced at Tesla's 2025 Shareholders Event!!!
Host: Astronaut Man
Date: November 9, 2025
Episode Overview
This episode features the highlights of Tesla’s highly anticipated 2025 Shareholders Event. Elon Musk takes center stage to unveil major developments across Tesla’s core technologies, manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The event showcases updates on the Optimus robot, breakthroughs in AI chip design, ambitious vehicle, and battery production goals, and new strategic directions for Tesla and its retail investors. A significant portion is dedicated to audience Q&A, with Musk addressing everything from the practical rollout of new products to deeper philosophical implications—like AI, consciousness transfer, and the economics of a post-scarcity world.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. The Tesla Shareholder Experience
- [01:00] Elon Musk’s Candid Intro
- Elon pokes fun at traditional shareholder meetings:
“Other shareholder meetings are like snooze fest, but ours are bangers. Look at this…Cyberpunk nightclub here with real robots just standing there.” (01:07) - Sets the tone for an engaging, innovative event at Tesla’s engineering HQ.
- Elon pokes fun at traditional shareholder meetings:
2. Optimus Robot: Ambitions, Safety, and Scaling
- [01:18–08:27] Optimus as Tesla’s Next Frontier
- Musk declares Optimus will be “the biggest product all time by far, bigger than cell phones, bigger than anything.” (01:27)
- Envisions tens of billions of humanoid robots globally, revolutionizing industry and personal life:
“Every human on Earth is going to want to have their own personal R2D2/C3PO. But actually Optimus will be even better than that.” (01:40)
- Outlines production roadmap:
- Million-unit production ramp in Fremont
- 10 million units/year soon after
- Potential for 100 million or even a billion robots/year; jokes about possibly building on Mars (02:05)
- Technical Challenges and Tesla’s Unique Edge
- Three toughest aspects:
- Human-like hands/forearms (dexterity)
- Real-world AI
- Volume manufacturing (02:40)
- “Tesla is the only one that has all three of those.” (02:50)
- Anticipates cost as low as $20,000 per unit during mass production (03:35)
- Version roadmap:
- Optimus 2.5 → Optimus 3 (imminent), then annual upgrades through at least “Optimus 5” by 2028 (08:27)
- Three toughest aspects:
- Societal Impact
- “Sustainable abundance via AI and robotics. That's the future we're headed for.” (08:40)
3. Tesla Full Self-Driving & AI Chip Breakthroughs
- [08:27–21:03] FSD Progress and Safety
- FSD (Full Self Driving) Version 14.1 already safer than human driving; expect Version 14.3 to enable “fall asleep and wake up at your destination” (09:35)
- On Tesla’s new AI5 chip:
- 1/3 the power of Nvidia Blackwell, “much less than 10% of the cost” (10:43)
- Specializes in integer-based inference for efficiency
- Fabrication across TSMC (Taiwan, Arizona, Texas) and Samsung (12:10)
- AI6 chip will double performance, rapid upgrade cycles (12:30)
- Potential “Terafab” plan:
- “I think we may have to do a Tesla Terafab. So it’s like Giga, but way bigger.” (13:33)
- On energy:
- Solar as the only scalable answer, solar-powered AI satellites in Tesla’s future (15:15)
- Product Updates
- Model S3XY and Cybertruck available for test drives (16:40)
- Tesla Semi moves to volume production in 2026 (18:48)
- Battery manufacturing innovation:
- Megapack upgrades, simplified deployment, goal to directly output up to 35kV—“You can just literally drop it off… plug them in and it just works.” (19:28)
- Supercharger network expansion leads rest of auto industry (20:19)
4. Supply Chain & Materials
- [21:38] Resilience Against Global Supply Risks
- “Biggest lithium refinery outside of China” being built in Texas (21:38)
- Corpus Christi cathode factory ensures control over key battery materials (22:00)
- 4680 cell production ramping, integral for multiple vehicles and Optimus (22:13)
5. Q&A Session: Retail Investors in Focus
- [24:08–63:21]
Notable Questions and Elon’s Answers:
A. Shareholder Experience and Community
- Calls to expand the venue for next year’s event, possibly to an arena or stadium, to rival Berkshire Hathaway’s scale. (25:05)
- Elon: “Tesla will be way bigger than Berkshire. Long term, it's going to be nutty.” (25:09)
B. FSD Licensing & Brand Loyalty
- Request to tie FSD ownership to user accounts, not vehicles.
- Elon agrees to “extend it for at least another quarter.” (26:07)
C. Accessibility and Product Roadmap
- Wheelchair-accessible Tesla vehicle (“Bovin”) in the works—“We certainly will make a wheelchair accessible vehicle.” (27:13)
- Dry cathode breakthrough for batteries is “a lot harder than we thought” but progressing. (28:21)
D. Vehicle Production Ambitions
- Plans to ramp to 2.7M annual production by end of 2026, 5M by 2028 (30:43)
- “This really is a new, it's not just a new chapter for Tesla, it's a new book.” (30:54)
E. Roadster and New Product Teasers
- Roadster update: “Most exciting product unveil ever”—demo April 1, 2026. (57:00)
- Roadster tech: “More tech than all the James Bond vehicles combined.” (57:03)
- “It’s the cherry on the icing on the cake.” (33:29)
F. Chips and Terafab Expansion
- Tesla committed to “buy all the chips that are made from the Fab…still not going fast enough.” (36:37)
- Possible direct investments in foundries, aims for “100,000 wafer starts per month size fab…maybe a million wafers a month” (36:44)
G. Tesla, Mars, and Interplanetary Expansion
- Optimus and Tesla vehicles will play a major role in moon and Mars cities
- “Cybertruck also. You will need to drive around in a pressurized vehicle if there’s a person inside.” (38:30)
H. Economics of Autonomy & Deflation
- Musk expects cost per mile for autonomous rides to fall below $0.20/mile, sparking a deflationary trend (40:00)
- Car ownership will decline, but miles driven will rise due to convenience of autonomy (41:06)
I. Regulatory and Scaling Challenges
- Confident regulatory approval for Cyber Cab will keep pace with production (42:26)
- Praises Waymo for “paving the path” for robotaxi regulation (42:38)
J. AI and Consciousness Transfer
- On mind uploading to Optimus:
- “At some point, if you want to be uploaded to a robot body, my guess is that becomes possible…probably less than 20 years.” (43:34)
- “Are you the same person you were five years ago?” (44:25)
K. Space Solar Power and Global Energy
- Space-based solar power feasible only once Starship production lowers orbital cost
- “You could only beam a tiny amount of that back or you’d melt Earth.” (45:05)
- “To make any progress on a Kardashev 2 scale…you have to use solar power in deep space.” (45:33)
L. Retail Investor Inclusion in SpaceX
- Musk sympathetic to retail investor access to SpaceX shares, frustrated with “public company parasitic load and lawsuits,” but open to exploring alternatives (47:39–48:50)
M. Musk’s Approach to Predictions & Hardware
- On FSD safety predictions and hardware:
- “Try to get the estimate to the nearest order of magnitude.” (50:58)
- Created chip team at Tesla out of necessity—speaks highly of NVIDIA’s achievements (51:37)
- Vision of using Tesla cars as a “massive distributed AI inference fleet” when not in use (54:35)
N. Insurance and Autonomy
- “Insurance is a real pain in the neck…Tesla insurance is trying to expand as quickly as possible, but the regulatory structure…is extremely complex.”
- Self-insurance solutions as part of the Cyber Cab rollout (60:28–60:48)
O. Training Compute and AI Partnerships
- Envisions spending “tens of billions of dollars” on AI training for Optimus; open to collaboration with XAI (61:11–61:44)
P. Support for International Users
- Tesla app will be localized to more languages (e.g., Hebrew): “The app needs to be in all languages.” (63:18)
Notable Quotes
-
On Optimus’ scale and potential:
“I think it's going to literally get to 100 million a year, maybe even a billion a year, and if you can get to the 5 second cycle time...these will be everywhere in the future.”
— Elon Musk (02:12) -
On AI chips:
“We believe the AI5 chip will be probably about a third of the power of…Nvidia Blackwell…for roughly comparable performance and much less than 10% of the cost.”
— Elon Musk (10:43) -
On robotics:
“Tesla is the only one that has all three of those [dexterous hardware, real world AI, volume manufacturing].”
— Elon Musk (02:50) -
On revolutionary autonomy:
“By 14.3 is when we're really going to be at the point where you can just pretty much fall asleep and wake up at your destination.”
— Elon Musk (09:45) -
On future abundance & power:
“Long term, the AI is going to be in charge, to be totally frank, not humans…We just need to make sure the AI is friendly.”
— Elon Musk (58:52) -
On mind uploading:
“My guess is that becomes possible…probably less than 20 years.”
— Elon Musk (43:34) -
On retail investor loyalty:
“A lot of them sold the farm to buy Tesla and they stuck with Tesla through thick and thin, good days and bad.”
— Elon Musk (47:39)
Timestamps of Important Segments
- [01:00]—Elon Musk’s candid event intro, the shareholder experience
- [01:18–08:27]—Optimus: vision, production roadmap, and safety
- [09:35–13:33]—FSD progress and AI5 chip introduction
- [15:15–20:19]—Solar, energy storage, and Superchargers
- [21:38–22:13]—Strategic battery materials and 4680 cells
- [24:08–63:21]—Q&A: investor questions, access expansion, product teasers, AI, autonomy economics, retail investor inclusion, and global outlook
Tone and Language
Elon Musk delivers in his classic unscripted, sometimes tongue-in-cheek style—frequently joking, improvising, and riffing technically for highly engaged investors and fans. The community-focused spirit is palpable (many audience members call for inclusivity, transparency, and global expansion). Emphasis is continually placed on “making the future happen” and pursuing sustainable abundance for all.
Memorable Moments
- Elon’s live comparisons to Star Wars and Terminator:
“We do want the Star Wars movie, not the Jim Cameron movie.” (01:54)
- Predicting Optimus robots potentially built on Mars; audience laughs
- Open speculation on uploading human consciousness to robots
- The audience chants for retail participation, and Elon’s visible appreciation:
“Tesla will be way bigger than Berkshire. Long term, it's going to be nutty.” (25:09)
- “Cyber Longhorn” statue for Texas Gigafactory suggested by fans and embraced by Elon (55:55)
Conclusion
This episode gives listeners a comprehensive, often visionary snapshot of the state—and bold future—of Tesla, filtered directly through Elon Musk’s idiosyncratic lens. From the mass deployment of robots and gigascale AI chips, to accessibility, autonomy, new vehicles, energy, and even philosophical questions about identity and abundance, it’s a sweeping tour of innovation. The Q&A demonstrates Tesla’s passionate retail investor base, Musk’s responsiveness, and an unabashed commitment to inclusivity, scale, and a future where technology enables global prosperity.