Elon Musk revived the Tesla-SpaceX merger question during a September 15 podcast appearance, pointing to the companies' shared Terafab chip project as the new strategic link between them. No merger has been announced, but hedge fund positioning and short interest data show how investors are already treating the two companies as connected bets.
Musk reopens the merger question
During the September 15 All-In Podcast, Musk joined SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell for a discussion that explicitly included Terafab and the possibility of combining Tesla and SpaceX. The two companies already share Musk, engineering talent and a growing interest in AI infrastructure. Terafab, a semiconductor manufacturing project in Texas meant to reduce dependence on outside chip supply, is the newest tie between them.
A combined company could theoretically connect Tesla's autonomous-driving, robotics and manufacturing ambitions with SpaceX's rockets, satellites and AI infrastructure. But no merger has been announced, and combining two companies of this size would raise valuation, governance and capital-allocation questions that dwarf the theoretical synergies.
The case for and against combining
Tesla is spending heavily on AI, robotaxis and Optimus while its automotive margins remain under pressure, so shared infrastructure could spread development costs across a larger technology platform. SpaceX, however, has a profitable Starlink business and a leading launch franchise; merging with Tesla could tie those businesses to a far more cyclical automaker, and shareholders might prefer SpaceX's cleaner aerospace and compute story on its own.
Investors are already positioning around it
Insider Monkey's database showed 116 hedge funds holding Tesla in Q2 2026, down from 123 in Q1. BAMCO held roughly 12.5 million shares after increasing its stake about 5%. SpaceX only began public trading in June, so its Q2 filings provide the first post-IPO institutional baseline rather than a comparable prior-quarter count.
Tesla's August 31 short-interest snapshot stood at roughly 74.2 million shares, about 2.35% of public float and two days of average trading volume.
Prediction markets are also pricing in the possibility: one contract put the odds of a formal merger announcement by year-end at 18.5%.
There is no evidence Musk has decided to merge the companies. What has changed is that Tesla and SpaceX increasingly share strategic assets that make the question less far-fetched than it once was.
Sources: Insider Monkey via Yahoo Finance, Crypto Briefing
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