Billionaire businessman and newly appointed government cost-cutter Elon Musk called for increased immigration of highly skilled foreign workers to the US in several social media posts that combated immigration restrictionists.

In a post on X, Musk denounced a “permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent” in the United States, calling it the “fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Mario Nawfal, a businessman and X influencer, cited Musk’s post and said the U.S. semiconductor industry alone needs more than 160,000 engineers by 2032, citing McKinsey & Company.

“No, we need more like double that number yesterday!” Musk replied. “The number of people who are super talented AND super motivated engineers in the US is too low.”

Musk drew an analogy between the American economy and a professional sports team. “If you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit the best talent wherever they are,” he wrote.

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Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla, speaks during an America PAC town hall on October 26, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images/Getty Images)

His argument drew a backlash from immigration restrictionists, who responded that tech companies should seek the best talent in America’s 330 million instead of calling for more foreign workers to immigrate to the United States.

“Your understanding of the situation is backwards and backwards,” Musk said in response to a user who asked why he was denying job opportunities to Americans.

“Of course, my companies and I would prefer to hire Americans and we do, as this is MUCH easier than going through the incredibly painful and slow work visa process.

“However, there is a shortage of extremely talented and motivated engineers in the United States,” Musk explained.

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Elon Musk pictured with President-elect Donald Trump in Florida. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Getty Images)

“If you force the best talent in the world to play the other side, America WILL LOSE. End of story,” Musk said.

His comments come as some immigration supporters have objected The appointment of President-elect Trump of Indian-American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan to an Artificial Intelligence (AI) advisory post in the incoming administration. Krishnan had previously urged Musk, who is close to Trump and will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to persuade the president to lift limits on green cards for highly skilled foreign-born workers.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), center, hosts Elon Musk, left, carrying his son X Æ A-Xii walking with Vivek Ramaswamy, right, co-leaders of the recently established Department of Government Efficiency, in the USA. Capitol on December 5, 2024 in Washing (Jack Gruber/USA TODAY NETWORK via Image Images/IMAGN)

“Anything to remove country limits for green cards/unblock skilled immigration would be huge,” Krishnan wrote on X. In another post, Krishnan added, “simple logic: we need the best, regardless where they were born (another oddity: the cap of the country is where you were born, not even citizenship).”

David Sacks, who Trump tapped for White House AI and cryptocurrency czardefended Krishnan’s view in an X post this week.

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“Sriram still supports skills-based criteria for receiving a green card, not making the program unlimited. In fact, he wants the program to be entirely merit-based,” Sacks wrote in part in his post.

“Makes sense,” Musk replied.

Alex Nitzberg of FOX Business contributed to this report.