There's a particular kind of irony that only Silicon Valley can produce, and Elon Musk walked right into it. In 2015, he publicly mocked Apple as the place where failed Tesla engineers ended up. A few years later, when Tesla was weeks from bankruptcy, he quietly called Apple's CEO and tried to sell the company for a fraction of what it would eventually be worth. Apple said no thanks.

The famous quote came during a 2015 interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt, later highlighted in a GQ profile. Musk was dismissive of Apple's rumored electric car ambitions under Project Titan. "We always jokingly call Apple the 'Tesla Graveyard,'" he said. "If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I'm not kidding."

He went further, questioning whether Apple could even build a car. "Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch?" Musk continued. "Cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches. You can't just go to a supplier like Foxconn and say: Build me a car."

Classic Musk: confident, cutting, and aimed squarely at one of the most powerful companies on the planet. But the bravado didn't last long.

When Confidence Turned to Desperation

By 2017 and 2018, Tesla was in freefall. The Model 3 rollout became what Musk later called the company's "darkest days." Production delays spiraled out of control, cash was burning fast, and bankruptcy became a real possibility. Musk told Axios in 2018 that Tesla was "single-digit weeks" from running out of money entirely.

That's when he reached out to Tim Cook. In a December 2020 post on X, Musk revealed he had approached Apple's CEO during the crisis to discuss a full acquisition of Tesla at just 10% of its then-current valuation. "He refused to take the meeting," Musk wrote. No conversation. No negotiation. Just a pass.

Cook later told The New York Times in 2021 that he had never spoken to Musk at all. "I've never spoken to Elon," Cook said, though he praised what Tesla had accomplished. Whether the meeting request never reached Cook or was simply declined remains unclear, but the result was the same: Apple walked away.

Apple's Car Dream Dies Quietly

Tesla survived its near-death experience. Apple's car project did not. After more than a decade and over $10 billion invested, Apple shut down Project Titan in early 2024, according to Bloomberg. Many engineers from the car team were reassigned to Apple's AI division, signaling a strategic pivot away from hardware and toward artificial intelligence.

Musk didn't let that pivot go unnoticed. When Apple announced it would integrate ChatGPT with Siri as an optional feature, Musk erupted. He called it "an unacceptable security violation" and threatened to ban Apple devices from Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI facilities. "It's patently absurd that Apple isn't smart enough to make their own AI," he posted, "yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security & privacy!"

From Rivalry to Reluctant Collaboration?

Then something shifted. Last month, when a user on X suggested Apple ditch Siri and integrate xAI's Grok assistant instead, Musk's response was surprisingly muted. "I'm down," he replied, signaling he'd be open to working with Apple on a collaboration that once seemed unthinkable.

It's a remarkable arc. The CEO who mocked Apple as a dumping ground for failed engineers later tried to sell them his company during its darkest hour. Apple passed. Tesla survived and thrived. Apple's car never materialized. Now the battlefield has moved from electric vehicles to artificial intelligence, and Musk appears willing to collaborate with the same company he once dismissed.

Whether that openness reflects strategic pragmatism or just another chapter in Musk's unpredictable relationship with Big Tech remains to be seen. But the history is clear: pride comes before the fall, and sometimes the graveyard is closer than you think.