Tesla Halts Production Due to IT Outage Linked to CrowdStrike System Issues

The electric vehicle giant Tesla faced unprecedented challenges on Friday as its manufacturing facilities worldwide came to a standstill due to an IT outage caused by system issues at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The outage led to production lines being temporarily halted, affecting operations in California, Nevada, and Texas.

According to correspondence obtained by CNBC, Tesla’s IT teams informed employees about a “windows host outage” that impacted various systems including servers, laptops, and manufacturing devices. Employees were warned they may see a “blue screen” on their devices, indicating the severity of the issue.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, known for his active presence on social media, took to his account with over 190 million followers to express his frustration over the CrowdStrike outages. Musk posted several complaints, highlighting the disruption caused to the supply chain and manufacturing processes.

Sources within Tesla revealed to CNBC that some manufacturing lines were slow to start on Friday, while others were completely halted. Managers reportedly instructed workers to prepare for canceled shifts or to go home early as the company grappled with the IT challenges.

The impact of the outage extended beyond Tesla, affecting key vendors like Microsoft, which scrambled to restore its apps and services. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged the update from CrowdStrike on Thursday had a global impact on IT systems, further complicating the situation.

In response to Nadella’s statement on social media platform X, Musk revealed that Tesla had removed CrowdStrike from all its systems in an effort to mitigate further disruptions. However, employees confirmed that Tesla was still using CrowdStrike as of Friday.

As the situation unfolded, Tesla did not immediately provide additional information about the IT outage or its implications for production and operations. The company’s response to the crisis and efforts to restore normalcy will be closely monitored as it navigates through this unexpected challenge.