--- title: "Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory rapidly expands recruitment and receives another $250 million investment! Musk's \"Physical AI Blueprint\" still needs blood transfusion from the automotive business" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/286246438.md" description: "Tesla announced an investment of $250 million in its Gigafactory located in Berlin, Germany, to enhance the production capacity of electric vehicle battery cells and plans to add approximately 1,000 employees. This move will increase the annual production capacity of the 4680 battery to 18 GWh and create over 1,500 new jobs. The Berlin factory is an important manufacturing base for Tesla in Europe, supporting the production and export of the Model Y. Tesla's Chief Financial Officer stated that battery pack capacity remains the biggest limiting factor at present" datetime: "2026-05-13T10:57:03.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/286246438.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286246438.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/286246438.md) --- # Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory rapidly expands recruitment and receives another $250 million investment! Musk's "Physical AI Blueprint" still needs blood transfusion from the automotive business According to Zhitong Finance APP, Tesla (TSLA.US) announced on Tuesday that it will invest $250 million in its Gigafactory located in Berlin, Germany, to enhance the production capacity of electric vehicle battery cells. André Thierig, a senior executive at Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory, posted on social media platform X, stating: "We announce an investment of $250 million in the cell factory at the Berlin Gigafactory. This will increase the annual production capacity of the 4680 battery to 18 GWh and create over 1,500 new jobs. This is good news during a challenging time for the German industry." It is reported that the Berlin-Brandenburg factory officially commenced production in March 2022 and is Tesla's first manufacturing base in Europe. The factory set a quarterly production record of over 61,000 vehicles in the first quarter of this year. As part of its strategy to reduce battery costs and strengthen vertical integration of vehicles in Europe, Tesla has been expanding the production scale of the 4680 battery at the Berlin Gigafactory. Last month, André Thierig stated that Tesla plans to increase the production of Model Y at the Berlin factory by 20% starting in July 2026. To support this expansion, the company plans to add approximately 1,000 employees and convert hundreds of temporary workers into permanent staff. The Berlin Gigafactory is an important export hub for Tesla's Model Y in Europe, supplying markets such as Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The factory also produces vehicles for export to India. Tesla's Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja stated during the first quarter earnings call in April this year: "We plan to continue increasing production, not only in Berlin but in all factories. The current biggest limiting factor remains the battery pack capacity, and we are actively addressing this issue." Tesla's electric vehicle sales performed poorly in the past 2025, with global cumulative deliveries reaching 1.6361 million units, a year-on-year decline of 8.6%, marking the second consecutive year of annual delivery decline. The first quarter deliveries increased by 6% year-on-year to 358,023 units, but fell short of analysts' expectations of approximately 366,000 units, representing the second-worst quarterly sales performance since 2022. This delivery result was only better than the same period last year when Tesla suspended Model Y production and faced widespread boycotts due to Musk's political activities. Despite this, electric vehicle sales remain Tesla's most important foundation. Data shows that Tesla's revenue in the first quarter increased by 16% year-on-year to $22.4 billion, significantly exceeding the market's general expectation of $20.7-20.9 billion. Although this includes approximately $900 million in positive foreign exchange impact, even excluding this factor, the adjusted revenue of $21.5 billion still surpassed expectations, mainly due to the rebound in the average selling price (ASP) of vehicles. Although the actual delivery volume fell short of expectations and declined quarter-on-quarter due to the impact of policy rollbacks in the Chinese and American markets in the first quarter, the optimization of product structure, the recovery of promotional discounts in markets like the United States, and the record high new subscriptions following the full transition of FSD to a subscription model led to high-margin software revenue recognition, resulting in the ASP ending its continuous decline trend and significantly rebounding by $2,500 to $43,600 Tesla's total automotive revenue in the first quarter was $16.2 billion, exceeding market expectations of $15.3 billion. The core automotive sales revenue (excluding carbon credits and leasing) reached $15.5 billion, surpassing market expectations of $14.5 billion, making it the primary source of the positive surprise; the overall automotive gross margin was as high as 21.1%, significantly exceeding market expectations of 16.9%. At the same time, from Tesla's latest financial report and its capital expenditure plan exceeding $25 billion, Musk is elevating Robotaxi, humanoid robots, and AI (including AI computing infrastructure construction and AI chips) to a higher priority, all of which require substantial financial investment. It is reported that Tesla has raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance from "over $20 billion" to "over $25 billion," fully rolling out the construction of six new factories (including lithium refining, Cybercab, Optimus factory, etc.) and AI computing clusters (Cortex training cluster, Terrafab). From an industrial logic perspective, Tesla's long-term growth narrative is shifting from electric vehicle manufacturing to becoming a "physical AI-level super platform company," but this does not change the fact that the electric vehicle business remains the most critical cash flow and manufacturing platform during the transition period. Tesla's efforts to expand the battery cell and electric vehicle production capacity at the Berlin Gigafactory indicate that the cash flow generation capability of the electric vehicle business is the most important guarantee for Musk's "physical AI super blueprint." It is worth mentioning that although Tesla has over $44 billion in cash and investments on its balance sheet, under an annual "burn rate" of around $25 billion, the company's reliance on operational cash flow from its automotive core business is extremely increasing. Therefore, Musk's "AI blueprint" must quickly establish a commercial closed loop and achieve self-sustainability; otherwise, Tesla may face real financing pressure in the next one to two years ### Related Stocks - [TSL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSL.US.md) - [TSLA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLA.US.md) - [TSLT.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLT.US.md) - [07766.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07766.HK.md) - [TSLR.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLR.US.md) - [TSLL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLL.US.md) - [TSLG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLG.US.md) - [TESL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TESL.US.md) - [TSDD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSDD.US.md) - [TSLQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLQ.US.md) - [09366.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/09366.HK.md) - [07366.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07366.HK.md) ## Related News & Research - [Tesla has a possible fix for chaotic charging lines](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286133106.md) - [Tesla to invest $250 million in battery plant outside Berlin](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286107013.md) - [End of an era: Tesla has built its final Model S and Model X vehicles](https://longbridge.com/en/news/285985146.md) - [Tesla Sets New Date for Postponed Signature Edition Delivery Event](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286108315.md) - [Ground Swell Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 1,484 Tesla, Inc. $TSLA](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286223961.md)