Elon Musk Complains: Apple Tried to Poach Tesla Engineers With Double Salaries

Elon Musk says that during Apple’s iCar project, the company aggressively tried to lure away Tesla engineers by offering double their salaries—without even requiring interviews.

In a new three-hour conversation with Stripe co-founder John Collison and podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, the discussion unexpectedly turned into a story about a “talent war.” Musk said that while Apple was attempting to build its own electric vehicle, recruiters relentlessly targeted Tesla employees, dangling offers of twice their current pay with no interview process at all. According to Musk, some Tesla engineers eventually started turning off their phones just to avoid hearing about yet another offer.

What Was Behind Apple’s Efforts

Musk described the situation as a “relentless hunt” for Tesla talent. At the time, he said, Tesla was riding a wave of success, and Silicon Valley had developed the illusion that any executive or engineer from Tesla would automatically deliver results. Apple, which was developing the Titan project, leaned heavily into that belief and tried to build its EV division largely by recruiting Tesla specialists.

In the interview, Musk also admitted that he had once fallen for a similar misconception himself. When hiring people from Apple or Google, he initially expected instant effectiveness, only to realize that there is no “magic dust.” Success, he said, doesn’t come from a company’s brand name, but from the specific team and the processes it has in place.