Tim Monson

Photographic/Videographer. Designer. Dad. Husband. Believer.

[Larry Goldberg @TeslaLarry]

I've been chewing on a question lately. Has any single business leader ever put this much capital to work at once? I ran the numbers on the companies Elon leads, and the answer is pretty remarkable.
This year SpaceX, which now includes xAI and X, is on pace to spend about $65 billion on capital projects, and Tesla has guided to more than $25 billion. That's roughly $90 billion in one year. On top of that sit the announced megaprojects. Starbase Louisiana is up to $100 billion, and Terafab in Grimes County is up to $119 billion across all phases. There's a $10 billion solar cell plant planned for Fort Bend County, a $20 billion-plus xAI data center in Southaven, and a growing cluster of factories in Bastrop. Hold today's pace flat and you get about $450 billion through 2030. Add the big projects and it's closer to $680 billion. If JPMorgan is right that SpaceX alone heads toward $200 billion a year, the total approaches a trillion.
To get a sense of scale I compared it to the size of the economy. The Musk companies are now investing about 0.28% of US GDP every year. Apollo averaged about 0.21% over its life, and so did the Manhattan Project. Those were run by the federal government. This is a handful of companies steered by one man.
And the money on his own books is only the first ring. People who learned their trade at SpaceX and Tesla have gone on to build companies of their own.
Tom Mueller founded Impulse Space, Will Bruey co-founded Varda, the Kunjur brothers started K2 Space, and JB Straubel built Redwood Materials.
Beyond them is a wider ring of competitors that exist because SpaceX and Tesla proved these things could be done. That includes every rocket company now chasing reusability, China's answers to Starlink, the global EV industry, and a whole field racing to build humanoid robots. Put all of that together and I think Elon has become something close to a one-man re-industrialization of America.
In fairness, Alphabet and Meta spend more in raw dollars, and Alphabet may still outspend everyone through 2030. What sets Elon apart is the range: rockets, launch sites, satellites, AI compute, chip fabs, solar, cars and robots, all at the same time, and much of it hardware nobody has ever built at this scale. I can't find anyone in history who has put so many $100 billion-scale physical projects in motion at once.
Not investment advice. It's just a fascinating moment to be watching.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@kevin_smith45 Low T has entered the chat.

[Kyle Becker @kylenabecker]

This is the best takedown of "No Kings" I've seen yet.

"You just hate what you're told to hate..."

"I just wish the anti-authoritarian energy was present during actual tyranny." 🔥

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@ConservAutistic @ClownWorld She’s entering stage 3 of the Rosie O’Donnell transformation.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@TONYxTWO We’ve been forced to pay for abortions for decades….also really, a concentration camp? Give me a break lady.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@GoldenAgeUnfold Anyways isn’t a word.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@GoldenAgeUnfold A.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@GavinNewsom Anytime the word corruption slips from your mouth, I assume it’s the opposite.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@RedEagleUpdates Ice Cream Day Dreams

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@AntiLeftMemes Does she hear herself?

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@PeriklesGREAT Tim Waltz approved.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@AntiWokeMemes He sounds like Toni Braxton in his mind.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@CAgovernor How about neglect and denial in California?

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@AntiCultMemes She’s actually being hospitalized because she chose to not eat.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@RepJamesClyburn Wrong clown.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@SenSchumer Go home.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@Sadie_NC Whitney…always Whitney.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

@SenAdamSchiff Cool assclown.

[Tim Monson @timothymonson]

This guy summarizes what is actually happening better than most in Congress and he's not getting paid $180k to put in the work. #termlimitsnow #termlimits #democratshutdown

[Michelle Maxwell ™ @MichelleMaxwell]

@SenSchumer This is what is really happening.