SpaceX Announces In-House Gas-Turbine Blade Production; Howmet Stock Drops
On August 31, shares of Howmet Aerospace Inc. (HWM) fell more than 8% after Elon Musk announced that SpaceX plans to manufacture its own gas-turbine blades in-house at a foundry in Texas. This move is part of broader efforts by SpaceX and Tesla to build solar capacity while addressing the bottleneck caused by limited global casting capabilities for turbine components. The market initially interpreted this as a competitive threat, but some Wall Street analysts argue that Musk’s comments highlight an industry-wide shortage rather than directly threatening Howmet or other suppliers. Analysts from Bernstein and Bloomberg Intelligence suggested that SpaceX's plan validates the scarcity of turbine-blade production capacity, which incumbents like Siemens Energy AG and GE Vernova Inc. are also addressing by expanding their own capabilities. Despite the sharp drop in HWM stock price to a two-month low during the session, some analysts view it as an overreaction and even a buying opportunity due to Howmet’s strong position in gas-turbine manufacturing.
Topics: AI data centers gas turbines Howmet Aerospace SpaceX stock movement