Analyst Note
| Seth Goldstein, CFA |On April 8, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a series of tweets that suggested Tesla may enter the lithium mining and refining space due to high lithium prices. This is not the first time Tesla management has suggested the company may integrate upstream into lithium, as Tesla provided high-level plans to produce lithium at its battery day in 2020. Should management be serious about entering the lithium space, we think the most likely route would be an acquisition of an existing lithium company. If this were to occur, net lithium supply would be unchanged as Tesla would supply at least some of its own lithium demand.