TNB Tech Minute: Tesla Sales Surge Amid Broader EV Slump

**Imani Moise** (0:00)
In the 1940s and 50s, developers could build 30 homes in a day. Today, we're about 15 million houses short. We seem to have lost our mojo. What happened? Listen to the final episode of USA 250 on What's News from The Wall Street Journal.
Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Thursday, July 2nd. I'm Imani Moise for The Wall Street Journal. After months of slowing car sales and hits to its brand, Tesla has regained momentum. The electric automaker sold over 480,000 EVs globally in the second quarter, up nearly 25% from the same period last year. The results marked the first time Tesla has reported vehicle sales since it stopped making the luxury Model X and Model S in May, though the company still sold its remaining inventory of those vehicles in the second quarter. Tesla's sales jump comes amid a wider downturn in the American EV market. Overall, electric sales in the US were down 25% for the first five months of the year. That's according to data from Motor Intelligence.
German drone maker Quantum Systems has more than double disvaluation with $1.2 billion in new funding, which values the company at roughly $8 billion.
Blackstone Airbus, private equity firm Advent, and equity investor Nodius Partners co-led the financing round, which highlights surging investor appetite for defense technology. Quantum said its systems completed over 19,000 missions in Ukraine last year. The startup says it's looking to expand drone manufacturing and boost investments in AI-powered software for autonomous systems.
And Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda has formed an AI drug discovery partnership with Insilico Medicine in a deal potentially worth up to $6 million. Under the agreement announced today, Takeda will pay the Boston-based biotech firm to use its proprietary platform to advance drug candidates across several therapeutic areas. Insilico will lead the discovery process, while Takeda will have exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the drugs. Insilico is set to receive $60 million to kick the project off and is eligible for milestone payments as well as royalties on future sales. And that's a wrap on your TNB Tech Minutes. Heads up, we'll be off tomorrow for the holiday, but back in your feed with more tech news Monday morning. Thanks for listening and happy 4th of July.

**Telus Demos** (2:29)
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**Miriam Gottfried** (2:30)
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