Tesla, Inc. Common StockTSLA

Capital structure and performance · Financial performance volatility

Our financial results may vary significantly from period to period due to fluctuations in our operating costs and other factors. We expect our period-to-period financial results to vary based on our operating costs, which we anticipate will fluctuate as the pace at which we continue to design, develop and manufacture new products and increase production capacity may not be consistent or linear between periods.

Capital structure and performance · Dividend policy and capital allocation

We may be unable to effectively grow, or manage the compliance, residual value, financing and credit risks related to, our various financing programs. The profitability of any directly-leased vehicles returned to us at the end of their leases depends on our ability to accurately project our vehicles' residual values at the outset of the leases.

International and currency · International operations and emerging markets

We face risks associated with maintaining and expanding our international operations, including unfavorable and uncertain regulatory, political, economic, tax and labor conditions. We are subject to legal and regulatory requirements, political uncertainty and social, environmental and economic conditions in numerous jurisdictions, including markets in which we generate significant sales.

Credit and liquidity · Access to capital and financing

Additional funds may not be available to us when we need or want them. Our business and our future plans for expansion, supporting infrastructure for our businesses, and AI innovations are capital-intensive, and we may need or want to raise additional funds through the issuance of equity, equity-related or debt securities or through obtaining credit from financial institutions.

Industry regulation · Regulatory compliance and changes

We are subject to evolving laws and regulations that could impose substantial costs, legal prohibitions or unfavorable changes upon our operations or products. Our business operations are and will continue to be subject to complex environmental, occupational, health and safety laws and regulations at numerous jurisdictional levels in the U.S., China, Germany and other locations abroad.

Legal and litigation · Employment and labor law compliance

From time to time, labor unions have engaged in campaigns to organize certain parts of our operations, as part of which such unions have filed unfair labor practice charges against us with the National Labor Relations Board, and they may do so in the future.

Industry regulation · Safety and environmental regulations

In particular, we offer in our customer vehicles in certain markets driver assistance features that today assist drivers with certain tedious and potentially dangerous aspects of road travel, but which currently require drivers to remain fully engaged in the driving operation. There are a variety of international, federal and state regulations that may apply to, and may adversely inhibit, the design and capabilities, sale, marketing, registration and operation of driver assistance features.

Legal and litigation · Product liability and warranty claims

We may be required to defend or insure against product liability claims. The automobile industry generally experiences significant product liability claims, and as such we face the risk of such claims in the event our vehicles do not perform or are claimed to not perform as expected.

Cybersecurity and data protection · Third party data security and vendors

We also rely on service providers, and similar incidents relating to their information technology systems could also have a material adverse effect on our business. Our service providers, including our workforce management software provider, have been subject to ransomware and other security incidents, and we cannot guarantee that our or our service providers' systems have not been breached or that they do not contain exploitable defects, bugs, or vulnerabilities that could result in a security incident.

Digital transformation and innovation · Technology implementation and upgrades

The implementation, maintenance, segregation and improvement of these systems require significant management time, support and cost, and there are inherent risks associated with developing, improving and expanding our core systems as well as implementing new systems and updating current systems, including disruptions to the related areas of business operation.

Information management · Technology vendor dependence

For example, as companies, including Tesla, have made rapid advancements in AI in recent years, such innovation demands exponentially greater compute, memory, energy and thermal resources, which may prove insufficient in scale or affordability to meet our requirements.

Digital transformation and innovation · Artificial intelligence and automation

In order to be successful, we will need to further advance our capabilities in AI, and implement, maintain and ramp efficient and cost-effective manufacturing capabilities, processes and supply chains and achieve the design tolerances, high quality and output rates we have planned at our manufacturing facilities.

Project and contract management · Project execution and delivery risks

We may be unable to meet our projected construction timelines, costs and production ramps at new factories, or we may experience difficulties in generating and maintaining demand for products manufactured there and related services.

Innovation and product development · Time to market and commercialization risks

We have experienced, and may also experience similar future delays in launching and/or ramping production of our energy storage products and Solar Roof; new product versions or variants; new vehicles; and future products, features and services based on artificial intelligence.

Strategic execution · Strategic transformation and turnaround risks

There is a risk that the technologies and initiatives associated with the 2025 CEO Performance Award, including the product goals, are misaligned with current or future consumer demand, resulting in our failure to invest in or pursue another opportunity that generates significant financial returns or leads to greater shareholder value.

Innovation and product development · Intellectual property protection and infringement

We may not be able to adequately protect or defend ourselves against intellectual property infringement claims, which may be time-consuming and expensive, or affect the freedom to operate our business. Our competitors or other third parties may hold or obtain patents, copyrights, trademarks or other proprietary rights that could prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use, develop, sell or market our products and services.

Strategic execution · Geographic expansion and market entry

We may be unable to grow our global product sales, delivery and installation capabilities and our servicing and vehicle charging networks, or we may be unable to accurately project and effectively manage our growth. Our success will depend on our ability to continue to expand our sales capabilities.

Natural and catastrophic events · Natural disasters and extreme weather

Our operations could be adversely affected by events outside of our control, such as natural disasters, wars or health epidemics. For example, our Fremont Factory and Gigafactory Nevada are located in seismically active regions in Northern California and Nevada, and our Gigafactory Shanghai is located in a flood-prone area.

Economic and market conditions · Inflation and deflation pressures

Unexpected changes in business conditions, materials pricing, including inflation of raw material costs, labor issues, wars, trade policies, natural disasters, health epidemics, trade and shipping disruptions, port congestions, cyberattacks and other factors beyond our or our suppliers' control could also affect these suppliers' ability to deliver technologies or components to us.

Corporate governance · Shareholder rights and activism

If we are unable to obtain the requisite shareholder approvals for such future increases, we may have to expend additional cash to compensate our employees and our ability to retain and hire qualified personnel may be harmed.