According to an analysis of the early development and financing of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk’s rise to become the world’s first trillionaire has come not only from investors and technology breakthroughs, but also from years of support from the US government.From the NASA contracts that kept SpaceX afloat to the federal loans, tax credits and regulatory programs that boosted Tesla, US government funding played a key role in helping both companies survive their fragile early years and join global giants.SpaceX was struggling to survive in its early years when it received a big boost from the US government. In 2006, NASA awarded the company a $278 million grant to develop its Falcon rocket system and Dragon spacecraft, as the US looked for private partners to replace the Space Shuttle program and maintain access to the International Space Station.That funding was only the beginning. According to data from PitchBook, SpaceX received more than $500 million in initial government grants. Later, in 2008, when the company was close to running out of money, NASA awarded it a $1.6 billion contract, a turning point that ensured its survival.Investment manager Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki and an early Tesla investor, said the US government was necessary for Musk’s existing companies.“If it weren’t for the government, (Tesla and SpaceX) wouldn’t exist,” said Ross Gerber, CEO of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki and an early investor in Tesla.SpaceX later became a prime contractor for NASA, launching missions and delivering astronauts to the International Space Station, turning its early public funding into a long-term government business.Casey Dreier, head of space policy at the Planetary Society, said NASA’s initial funding was decisive.“This was about half of their capital that they had raised up to that point,” Casey Dreier, head of space policy at the Planetary Society, a public interest group that advocates for space flight, said before the SpaceX IPO.He added: “This was a significant commitment provided by NASA.”SpaceX benefited from direct federal funding, but Tesla’s support came more indirectly, but was equally important in its early existence.In 2010, when Tesla had sold less than 2,000 vehicles, it received a $465 million low-interest loan from the US Department of Energy. The funding helped it develop the Model S, which became its first major commercial success. Tesla later repaid the loan in early 2013 after raising additional capital through a stock sale.US government support also came through consumer incentives. A $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicle buyers helped Tesla attract demand and raise prices. Analysts estimate Tesla buyers received about $3.4 billion in federal tax credits before the program ended in 2019, later briefly resuming under the Inflation Reduction Act before being phased out again in 2025.However, the most important long-term support came through regulatory credit. Under US emissions rules, carmakers that exceed environmental standards can sell credits to those that do not. Tesla, which produces only electric vehicles, continuously earned additional credits.Between 2008 and 2019, these regulatory credit sales generated more than $2 billion for Tesla, sometimes accounting for nearly a quarter of its revenue. Even after that period, the company continued to be profitable and had additional credit sales of an estimated $12.3 billion since 2019.Tesla himself admitted how close he came to collapse. Musk admitted in 2020 that the company was close to bankruptcy in 2019, despite its growing reputation.In a tweet in 2020, Musk acknowledged that Tesla had recently been forced to file for bankruptcy in 2019.Even as Tesla moved toward profitability, it was still heavily supported by credit revenues, only to achieve consistent profits without them after 2021.Today, Tesla is now valued at approximately $1.5 trillion. This is driven less by car sales and more by investor confidence in future technologies like robotaxis and humanoid robots. Yet analysts say the foundation for that valuation was built during years when government programs helped stabilize both Tesla and SpaceX.