- Tesla’s latest quarterly results affirmed that the company neither acquired nor divested any Bitcoin during this period.
- Tesla stated that it had “more than doubled the size” of its computing resources, primarily for its AI projects.
Tesla maintained its substantial Bitcoin holdings during the third quarter of 2023, marking the fifth consecutive quarter without changes to its digital asset investments.
However, in its ongoing pursuit of artificial intelligence (AI) endeavors, the company directed additional funds to double its computing capacity.
Tesla’s Q3 2023 financial results, released on 18 October, revealed that as of 30 September, the company still held approximately $184 million worth of digital assets. This holding is a fraction of the $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin Tesla initially purchased in March 2021.
The latest quarterly results affirm that Tesla neither acquired nor divested any Bitcoin during this period. The company has been maintaining a consistent approach in managing its digital assets.
It’s worth noting that the previous year saw a significant change in Tesla’s Bitcoin strategy. The company sold around 75% of its Bitcoin holdings in the second quarter of 2022, realizing a sum of $936 million from the sale of more than 30,000 BTC.
In contrast to its digital asset holdings, Tesla reported substantial growth in its computing capacity. It stated that it had “more than doubled the size” of its computing resources, primarily for its AI projects.
The expansion was attributed to the necessity of processing an increasing training data set and shifting the training of its humanoid robot, Optimus, from conventional software coding to AI-based techniques.
Tesla’s official statement indicated,
“We have commissioned one of the world’s largest supercomputers to accelerate the pace of our AI development, with compute capacity more than doubling compared to Q2.”
Q3 2023 results reveal significant AI infrastructure growth
Despite these investments and innovations, Tesla’s third-quarter financial results fell short of Wall Street estimates, particularly in earnings and profits.
The company reported total revenues of $23.35 billion for the quarter, reflecting a nearly 9% increase from the same period the previous year. However, this figure missed the estimate of $24.38 billion projected by Zacks Investment Research.
Likewise, Tesla’s earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter reached $0.66, which was below the estimated $0.72 EPS provided by Zacks.
Additionally, the third-quarter operating expenses exceeded $2.41 billion, marking an increase of over 13% from the previous quarter and more than 42.5% from the prior year.
A significant portion of Tesla’s expenses could be attributed to research and development (R&D) activities. It amounted to $1.16 billion for the quarter. This represented a substantial 58% increase from the previous year.
The expenses were related to several R&D projects, including the development of the Cybertruck, AI initiatives, and other research ventures.
Tesla’s financial performance for the quarter had an impact on its stock market value. Tesla shares declined by nearly 4.8% during the trading day, closing at $242.68.
Subsequently, in after-hours trading, Tesla shares fell further by 4.25%, reaching $232.37, according to data from Google Finance.
