Elon Musk urges US companies to build lithium refineries as Tesla scales Texas output
Elon Musk used the final moments of Tesla's earnings call to warn American companies they must build more battery-making infrastructure or risk falling behind, saying Tesla has taken unusual steps to protect itself by building lithium‑refining and battery facilities in Texas. Musk pressed the point with blunt language on the call, asking, "Can other people, please, for the love of God, in the name of all that is holy, can others please build this stuff?" He added that "there are so many companies out there that are asleep at the switch with regard to geopolitical risk — or they just have their head in the sand and hope nothing bad will happen," and that he is "way more paranoid than that." Tesla noted it began processing lithium at its $1 billion Robstown, Texas, refinery in December 2024 and said this month it is producing dry‑electrode 4680 cells with both anode and cathode made in Austin that will go into "certain Model Ys." Musk described the facilities as "more advanced than anything else in the world" and said Tesla is "pretty much the largest, but also the only lithium refinery and cathode refinery in America." Tesla also pointed to energy‑storage revenue: Megapacks reported Q4 revenue of over $3.8 billion, a 25% increase year over year.
Independent research supports Musk's concern about the pace of domestic buildout.
elon musk, tesla lithium refinery, robstown texas refinery, austin 4680 cells, dry-electrode 4680 cells, cathode refinery america, anode and cathode production, megapack q4 revenue, energy storage revenue, battery making infrastructure, geopolitical supply chain risk, lithium price volatility, dallas fed lithium analysis, 66 us lithium projects, lithium americas corporation investment, general motors lithium investment, nevada lithium mine, us government minority stake, more than $20 billion capex, production plant expansion, model y battery cells, battery production facilities texas, domestic lithium processing, battery supply chain resilience, tesla earnings call