Tesla said on Tuesday that in the second quarter of this year, the adjusted sales profitability ratio fell to 14.4 percent., the lowest level in three years. This is the fourth consecutive quarter of decline. A year earlier, sales profitability was at the level of 18.7 percent.
The company reported just $1.48 billion in net profit with revenues of $25.5 billion, which also included $890 million from so-called regulatory credits, or in other words, from trading in CO2 emission rights – reports CNBC.
Expenditures surge
Autonomous cars and humanoid robots occupy important positions in Musk’s plans.and developing those two areas requires a lot of capital. That’s why Tesla’s spending is skyrocketing. The company is spending money on artificial intelligence infrastructure, which Musk says is needed to transform Tesla’s electric vehicles into autonomous cars and catch up to companies like Alphabet’s Waymo in the robotics market.
It is equally expensive development of humanoid robots Optimuswhich will be capable of performing work in factories and beyond. According to Musk, the Optimus project will ultimately transform Tesla into a company worth tens of trillions of dollars. But to meet these challenges, you need to build data centers filled with Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs), as well as develop Tesla’s own AI processors.
In the second quarter of this year Tesla’s operating costs rose 39 percent year-on-year to $2.97 billion. AI infrastructure capital expenditures in the quarter totaled $600 million, CNBC reported
Prices are falling, and sales are falling… too
Meanwhile Sales of Tesla’s most popular electric models are down this yearTo spur demand, Tesla is lowering prices and offering other incentives, such as low-interest loans. “Affordability remains the most important thing for customers,” Tesla Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja told CNBC on the company’s earnings call.
In a statement to investors, the company said the decline in operating income was partly due to a lower average selling price and lower deliveries of its top-of-the-line electric vehicles. Automotive industry revenues down 7% year-on-yearwhich is the second decline in a row, as competition increases, especially in China.
