Musk buys 1,200 ventilators from China’s surplus

The 1,200-plus ventilators that SpaceX and Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk brought to Los Angeles originated in China.

Musk tweeted Monday night that China had an “oversupply” of ventilators, and that he bought Food and Drug Administration-approved machines from that country. It’s unclear whether Musk donated the ventilators to the state of California or whether the state bought them from him.

The governor’s office of business and economic development did not have an immediate response, and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ventilators appear to be free for healthcare facilities. Musk tweeted Monday night that “if you want a free ventilator installed, please let us know.”

There was some confusion initially that maybe SpaceX or Tesla had already put together their own ventilator assembly processes, a setup that experts say could take months.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday that Musk promised to use the supply chains that support Tesla and SpaceX for help in assembling ventilators.

Over the last few days, Musk has tweeted that SpaceX would be producing ventilators and that he had a “long engineering discussion” with ventilator manufacturer Medtronic, which has operational headquarters in Fridley, Minn.

Musk has been skeptical about the need, however, tweeting Thursday that “we’re working on ventilators, even though I think there will not be a shortage by the time we can make enough to matter.”