TMTPOST — Tesla China on Thursday labeled as untrue reports that the company is weighing a separation of its China operations to clear a path for a potential merger with SpaceX. The Wall Street Journal had cited sources saying some Tesla executives were instructed to prepare for a possible split and that advisers had discussed options including a spinoff, sale or closure. Tesla China told multiple outlets the claims were “untrue information,” while Chief Executive Elon Musk called the coverage “fake news” on X and stated the matter “has never even come up in a discussion ever.” Shanghai Gigafactory remains Tesla’s largest vehicle production base, accounting for more than half of global deliveries; it shipped nearly 468,000 vehicles in the first half of 2026, up 28.4 percent year-on-year, within a company-wide total exceeding 830,000 units, and has produced more than 4.5 million cars since late 2019. SpaceX’s status as a major U.S. defense contractor, with government sales representing 20.9 percent of its 2025 revenue, had been cited in the original report as a potential regulatory complication for any closer corporate combination. Tesla’s Chinese facilities continue to serve both the domestic market and export markets across Asia and Europe, underscoring the operational weight of the Shanghai complex that any separation would affect.