Tesla (TSLA.O) has halted some production lines at its Texas and Nevada facilities due to the global IT outage.
The disruption, caused by a technical issue with a content update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD.O) for Microsoft Windows hosts, has affected industries worldwide, from travel to finance, before services started to recover after several hours of downtime.
An internal email revealed that Tesla informed its staff on Friday morning about the outage. The email stated, “We are currently experiencing an outage with Windows hosts, servers, laptops, and manufacturing devices where users are seeing a blue screen on their devices.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk addressed the situation on the social media platform X, stating, “We just deleted CrowdStrike from all our systems, so no rollouts at all.” He did not specify which of his companies had taken this action or elaborate on the specific impacts of the outage. Musk also commented on the broader implications, saying, “This gave a seizure to the automotive supply chain,” in a reply to a post by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
The IT outage led to Tesla sending some production employees home early during the night shift at its Austin, Texas, and Sparks, Nevada facilities.
CrowdStrike has acknowledged the issue, stating that it is working with customers affected by a defect found “in a single content update for Windows hosts.”
Impact on the Automotive Industry
The halt in production lines at Tesla’s key manufacturing facilities underscores the extensive reach and potential impact of IT disruptions in today’s highly interconnected industries. As Tesla grapples with these challenges, the broader automotive supply chain may also feel the ripple effects, emphasizing the critical nature of robust and resilient IT infrastructure.
Broader IT Outage
The tech outage, which led to widespread disruptions, is gradually being resolved. However, the incident has highlighted vulnerabilities in global IT systems and the cascading effects such outages can have on various sectors, from manufacturing and logistics to finance and healthcare.
As industries work to recover from the disruption, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of cybersecurity and the potential consequences of technological failures.
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