Tesla, Inc. (TSLA): Highlights from our visit to Gigafactory Shanghai

Last week we visited Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, where Tesla produces both Model 3/Y, as well as megapacks, as part of our larger China Autos fieldtrip. Key takes: 1. Giga Shanghai a key source of volume and margin strength for Tesla, boosted by exports; 2. Balancing automation with labor; 3. Energy - a tale of two regions; 4. While Auto/Energy are global, AI initiatives more US focused for now; 5. Tesla/Elon an inspiration for China's auto industry. Giga Shanghai is Tesla's highest-volume factory, accounting for more than half of Tesla's global auto production, and vehicles made there offer substantially better cost, with exports now tracking at nearly half of Giga Shanghai production. While automation has been a staple at Tesla plants, at Shanghai we saw more manual labor than we expected;