SpaceX SPCX is becoming a major customer for Tesla’s TSLA energy storage business, and that could be more important than it first appears. In the first half of 2026, SpaceX bought about $329 million worth of Tesla Megapacks (including $295 million in the second-quarter itself), compared with $506 million for all of 2025. The reason is tied to the growing power needs of artificial intelligence (AI).
Why SPCX is Buying TSLA Megapacks?
On Tesla’s latest earnings call, Musk explained why SpaceX is purchasing so many Megapacks. SpaceX is using the batteries to deal with the huge and sudden changes in electricity demand created by AI computing.
During AI training runs, power demand can swing by as much as 70% in a fraction of a second. Hyperscalers may have access to enough chips and generation capacity, but they can't stabilize the power feeding those chips. Batteries with fast power electronics solve that problem.
Musk’s reasoning rests on a capacity-utilization gap— total U.S. generation capacity sits around 1.2-1.3 terawatts, while average demand is only about 0.5 terawatt. That means there could be roughly 0.7-0.8 terawatt of capacity sitting unused at any given time. Batteries could help unlock some of this existing capacity for AI computing, rather than waiting years to build new power plants. If that happens on a large scale, the opportunity for Megapacks is huge.
Tesla is also looking at another idea called Megapods, which would combine AI computing and battery storage in a single package. These could potentially be deployed at Supercharger locations. Tesla already controls around 7 GW of power capacity across its charging network. In effect, the company could use that existing infrastructure to create a distributed network for both power storage and computing.
TSLA Q2 Energy Business Numbers
Tesla’s energy business is growing. Energy storage deployments in the second quarter of 2026 reached 13.5 GWh, up 53% sequentially and making it the company’s second-best quarter on record.
The weakness was in margins. Energy gross margin dropped to 20.4% from 39.5% sequentially. But there were several reasons for the sharp decline. Tesla recorded a $240 million warranty true-up related to older battery cell issues, while a $200 million-plus tariff benefit recorded in the first quarter was not repeated. The business is also facing continued pricing pressure as competition increases. Tesla expects its long-term energy storage margin to be in the low-to-mid 20% range.
TSLA Energy's Growth Case
Tesla's energy business is still small relative to its automotive segment, but it's the one part of the company where three things are pulling in the same direction: rising AI-driven demand, a growing demand across data centers, and Musk's own ambitions to vertically integrate power, compute, and connectivity across his companies.
These Megapack orders from SpaceX matter not for their current size, but the trajectory. SpaceX has plans to build a massive amount of power capacity to support its AI ambitions. Musk's target is 20 GW of power and cooling online by the end of 2027, with a more conservative fallback of around 15 GW.
That's a multi-year buildout that will require a large and growing quantity of battery storage. As long as Tesla holds onto that preferred-supplier position, it locks in a demand stream that's both predictable and likely to grow well past its current size.
The Zacks Rundown on TSLA Stock
Shares of Tesla have declined 26% over the past year, underperforming the industry.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, TSLA trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 11.6, above the industry and its own five-year average. It carries a Value Score of F.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
See how the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Tesla’s 2026 and 2027 EPS has been revised over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
TSLA stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is Here
The AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.
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