obviously it's a loss on paper. When R&D investment counts against income for tax purposes; where T is the tax rate, R is the expected return made on R&D and I

obviously it's a loss on paper. When R&D investment counts against income for tax purposes; where T is the tax rate, R is the expected return made on R&D and I is interest paid on money to fund R&D, it makes sense to borrow enough money to offset all revenue while I-R<T and a lot of tech companies go nuts as a result with ridiculous acquisitions. In that sense, Tesla has a relative advantage because a factory's value is unlikely to go to zero.