Elon Musk, who has been very vocal about governments’ unfair treatment meted out to his business ventures, vented out his frustration yet again on Monday.
What Happened: The trigger for another outburst by Musk came in the form of a post by a Tesla influencer from Canada, who noted that federal and provincial governments have reiterated support for Canadian satellite telecom company Telesat’s Lightspeed satellite network project.
The project was touted as a source of 967 additional jobs in Canada and Quebec and involved an investment of C$2.62 billion. This would translate to a public subsidy of just under C$3 million per job for a project that will cost a total of more than C$6 billion and aims to connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2030,” the social-media user said on X. He contrasted that with Musk’s Starlink, which did not receive any subsidies but already had over 400,000 satisfied users in Canada.
Starlink is owned by SpaceX and it provides low-latency broadband internet service.
The Tesla influencer said Starlink could “provide all Canadians in rural and remote locations with reliable high-speed internet *today* and for a fraction of that cost.”
Musk jumped in and said competitors receive vastly more subsidies than SpaceX or Tesla. “The success of SpaceX/Tesla is in spite of competitor subsidies!” he said.
He also referred to the U.S. government’s giveaway for a North American Supercharger network to compete against Tesla, adding that it still failed. The billionaire could have referred to Charge Enterprises, which partnered with Stellantis and General Motors, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year.
Despite massive subsidies to Starlink competitors for American rural broadband they failed, Musk said.
See Also: How To Invest In SpaceX
Why It’s Important: The Tesla CEO clarified the same in an exchange with Sun Microsystems co-founder and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla over the weekend.
When the latter questioned how much government money SpaceX gets and whether Tesla could have survived without EV subsidies, Musk retorted sharply. “Do some research before you display your utter ignorance,” he said, adding that SpaceX gets no subsidies and received half as much as Boeing for astronaut transport, but did 100% of the work. He also clarified that government subsidies make up only a minor portion of his electric-vehicle manufacturing company Tesla's revenue.
Musk’s SpaceX is already on a warpath with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over regulatory delays and safety concerns, particularly regarding its Starship development program. The regulator has maintained that its accent is on safety and environmental protection but Musk has been rooting for a more agile and forward-thinking regulatory approach that aligns with SpaceX's fast-paced innovation agenda.
Recently Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) applauded Musk's SpaceX for its Polaris Dawn mission in a speech and also voiced concerns regarding the regulatory clampdown on the company. “We continue to be stuck in the reality where it takes longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware,” Kiley said.
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