NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 09:43 ET — Regular session
- Tesla fell about 2.2% in early trading after South Korea’s L&F slashed the stated value of a battery-material supply deal.
- Investors focused on what the revision signals about Tesla’s in-house 4680 battery ramp and demand for the Cybertruck.
- Traders are watching for Tesla’s next delivery update and any progress on robotaxi plans as year-end liquidity thins.
Tesla shares fell about 2.2% to $464.88 in early trade on Monday, after South Korea’s L&F said the value of a battery-material supply deal with Tesla had shrunk to just $7,386 from an earlier projection of $2.9 billion.
The revision landed as investors scrutinize whether Tesla’s in-house “4680” battery program is scaling fast enough to support new products and lower costs in 2026, after the stock’s sharp run into year-end. Reuters+1
It also comes in a holiday-thinned market that has amplified moves in big, momentum stocks. Tesla hit a record high last week, Reuters reported, leaving little cushion for any negative surprises.
L&F, a supplier of cathode material — a key ingredient used in lithium-ion batteries — disclosed the revised deal value in a filing, without giving a reason for the steep cut.
The company said the 2023 agreement covered high-nickel cathode materials supplied to Tesla and its affiliates from January 2024 through December 2025. Sources and analysts said the materials were intended for Tesla’s in-house 4680 cells.
Cho Hyun-ryul, a senior analyst at Samsung Securities, said issues with production yields for Tesla’s 4680 batteries and a slowdown in EV demand growth may have contributed to the reduction in orders. “There (is) anxiety about the battery sector overall,” he added. Reuters
Neither Tesla nor L&F immediately responded to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
Tesla’s 4680 refers to a larger cylindrical battery cell the company has pitched as a cheaper, higher-output design. Chief executive Elon Musk first laid out the mass-production plan in 2020, but also acknowledged challenges scaling a “dry electrode” manufacturing process used to make the cells. Reuters
Tesla currently uses the 4680 batteries in its Cybertruck, which Reuters described as slow-selling despite Musk’s earlier prediction of hundreds of thousands of annual sales.
The L&F disclosure also highlighted broader strain across South Korea’s EV supply chain, after some battery suppliers reported order cancellations and scaled back joint ventures with U.S. automakers following the end of U.S. federal EV subsidies in September, Reuters reported.
Tesla’s early slide came alongside broader weakness in tech and AI-linked stocks at the start of the final week of 2025, as investors weighed high valuations and light holiday trading volumes, Reuters reported.
Autonomy remains another key swing factor for the stock. A Waymo outage in San Francisco this month renewed debate about whether robotaxi operators can handle emergencies at scale, as companies including Tesla and Amazon’s Zoox race to expand, Reuters reported.
Before the next major company update, investors are watching two near-term milestones: Tesla’s global fourth-quarter delivery figures and Musk’s pledge to move toward unsupervised robotaxis in Austin by year-end, Investors.com reported.
On the macro calendar, traders will also be monitoring minutes from the Federal Reserve’s previous meeting and weekly U.S. jobless claims this week, with U.S. markets closed Thursday for New Year’s Day, Reuters reported.
