Tesla’s stock rose more than 3% in morning trading on Wednesday as CEO Elon Musk heads to China.
Tesla shares fell 2.6% on Tuesday, snapping a four-day winning streak that raised Tesla stock more than 14%. One thing sending shares higher was the hope that Tesla was close to receiving approval to sell its Full Self Driving, or FSD, driver-assistance product in China.
Americans can pay $99 a month for FSD. In April, Tesla reported 1.3 million FSD subscriptions at the end of the first quarter, up from about 850,000 a year ago. A Chinese FSD launch would represent some AI progress at Tesla, which has pinned its future on AI applications such as FSD, robo-taxis, and humanoid robots.
Now, Musk is on his way to China, tweeting that he was aboard Air Force One early on Wednesday.
He will joined in China by a bevy of U.S. business leaders, including GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Apple CEO Tim Cook,Citi CEO Jane Fraser, and others.
“I will be asking President Xi, a leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level,” said President Donald Trump in a Tuesday post on Truth Social.
The trip has delayed a delivery event for the final Model S and Model X vehicles. Production of those cars stopped earlier this month as Tesla prepares to turn that production capacity into a line making humanoid robots.
Investors are waiting to see the capabilities of version three of Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus. That could happen this summer, according to the company. Tesla has been reticent to showcase the robot, citing competitive threats. “We find our competitors do a frame-by-frame analysis whenever we release something and copy everything they possibly can,” said Musk on Tesla’s Apr. 22 first-quarter earnings conference call.
FSD overseas and robot production represent two potential catalysts for Tesla stock. Coming into Wednesday trading, Tesla stock was down 4% this year and up 30% over the past 12 months.