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Elon Musk says Tesla ending Models S and X production, converting Fremont factory lines to make Optimus robots (www.cnbc.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 3 points 9 months ago (4 children)

The federal government is essentially buying them up when space x does it. Since that’s where space x gets most of its money.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (3 children)

    That's like saying your employer is buying your car because you get paid by your employer so your company is bankrolling Ford or whatever.

    SpaceX bids on services the government wants people to provide, they win the bid (usually lowest cost due to their reusable rockets) and deliver said product/outcome. They don't even operate on cost plus contracts like other space companies, it's generally fixed cost.

    This isn't like Tesla where there's things like ZEV credits or $7500 federal rebates.

    This is I want to buy something and SpaceX delivers it, and of what they get from the government, that is the vast vast majority of it.

    Also Starlink is now their biggest revenue generator (of which their are government purchases as well)

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (2 children)

    SpaceX also gets subsidies and tax credits. That’s different from contracts, and it’s our money. It they need credits and subsidies, they sure as fuck don’t need a parking lots full of unused and unsellable cyber trucks.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    Looks like I was outdated on the subsidy side.

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/starlink-demands-grant-money-from-states-even-when-residents-dont-buy-service/

    While that almost 1 billion grant did get cancelled, it looks like they actually did get another grant, but haven't received the money yet. That's for $733.5 million to provide subsidized services to 472,000 locations.

    It sounds like SpaceX is trying to put requirements on the states though if they accept it, so we'll see if this goes through or not.

    If it does though, this would be the government giving them a lot of money.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    Every business gets tax credits, and tax credits are not government money being paid to SpaceX. It just means they pay less taxes. You as a individual get them too. That's money the government never had. For businesses its also usually somethings like if you build your business here you don't pay property taxes for X years. It wasn't anything like the EV rebate which was designed to prop up an industry.

    They have received very little money that isn't for services delivered. It's not 0, but it's very little.

    One could have argued they almost got a billion dollars for the rural broadband grant but that was revoked and they never got it. That would have been a we'll give you money to help launch rockets and lower your prices for our residents, had it happened.

    Edit: there's very little reason to be upset with SpaceX in something like this. They've saved the government billions and billions of dollars by existing now. Tesla sure, they were given a lot of money for nothing in return, or programs were designed that forced other companies to give them money, but you're barking up the wrong tree with SpaceX.

    Edit: This website says they received 6 grants, some training reimbursements, and some loans which probably had good repayment terms. https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/space-exploration-technologies-spacex And while some of those are undisclosed, it's not like McLennan County is giving them a billion dollars.

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