Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the electric vehicle (EV) maker’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday that the company could one day “far exceed” Apple’s market capitalization (via Tesla North).
Musk said that it is possible for Tesla to be worth more than Apple, but it will require “incredible execution.” In fact, the celebrity billionaire believes Tesla has the potential to eventually overtake both Apple and Saudi Aramco, combined, in market cap.
“I now have the opinion that we can far exceed Apple’s current market cap. I see a potential path for Tesla to be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco, combined,” explained Musk. “So now that doesn’t mean it will happen or that it will be easy. It will be difficult and require a lot of work and some very creative new products and expansion.”
Back in 2017, Musk said during another earnings call that he sees Tesla surpassing Apple to become the most valuable company in the world. At the time, Apple was worth $772 billion USD while Tesla’s market value was a measly $51 billion.
Tesla did go on to top $700 billion in market capitalization, so Musk technically wasn’t wrong about that. Granted, Apple was worth substantially more by then.
Tesla did break $1 trillion in market capitalization around this time last year, and then again in March. The EV and green energy giant is worth $657.7 billion at the time of writing, roughly 30% of Apple’s current market valuation of $2.32 trillion.
“This is the first time I’m seeing that potential,” said Musk, referring to Tesla hitting twice Saudi Aramco’s current market cap of $2.09 trillion.
Musk’s ambitious forecast would put Tesla on the road to achieving a market cap of over $4 trillion (2x Saudi Aramco) or over $4.4 trillion (roughly the combined market cap of Apple and Saudi Aramco). That’s a lot of robotaxis, Mr. Musk.
Musk backed his claims by saying Tesla has “the most exciting product portfolio of any company on Earth.” Later in the earnings call, he said his projections didn’t even take into account Optimus, the autonomous robot Tesla showed off at its recent AI Day event and plans to mass produce in the coming years.
Tesla’s Q3 results saw the company announce a record $21.4 billion in revenue, along with new highs for vehicle production and deliveries.
