Construction is picking up speed on a plant built to mass-produce Tesla's humanoid robot, Optimus. Another massive production facility is being pushed forward at the Texas gigafactory already known for building electric vehicles. The question now is whether Tesla can move quickly into mass production as Chinese rivals press ahead with their own humanoid robots.
Joe Tegtmeyer, a U.S. tech influencer, posted drone footage of the Texas gigafactory construction site on his X account on the 17th. The video shows steel frame assembly progressing rapidly for a plant dedicated to Optimus on the gigafactory grounds. Concrete was being poured on the top three floors, and rebar was being laid for additional pours.
The footage also captured a relatively wide open area on the east side. Observers say it could become production space with high ceilings. On the west side, a stairwell structure running up to the roof has also taken shape.
Because construction is still underway, the final interior layout and production line configuration could change. But the Optimus plant Tesla is planning is said to be an enormous facility of about 7 million square feet, or roughly 650,000 square meters. In scale alone, the project is seen as comparable to an automobile plant.
Tesla is not mapping out a single leap into mass production of humanoid robots. It is also building an Optimus pilot production line at its Fremont plant in California. Initial production could begin as early as the fourth quarter of this year. The robotics industry believes Tesla plans to verify production processes, parts sourcing and robot assembly methods on the Fremont line, then use those results to move quickly into stable mass production in Texas.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has unusually high expectations for Optimus. He has repeatedly described the robot as Tesla's future growth engine. In the EV market, Tesla earned revenue by selling cars directly, but robots can target not only industrial demand on factory floors but also, over the longer term, the market for household service robots.
For Tesla, the supply chain and manufacturing capacity built up through large-scale vehicle production can also be applied to mass-producing Optimus, reducing the trial and error companies typically face when starting production of a new product. If it applies the cost-cutting expertise gained in vehicle manufacturing to robots, it could lower unit production costs faster than competitors.
With the humanoid robot market opening up in China, some argue Tesla needs to pull forward its mass-production timeline as much as possible. Investment bank Morgan Stanley projected China's humanoid robot output at 50,000 units this year. Market research firm TrendForce recently forecast that China's robot output would reach 100,000 units this year. According to China Electronics News, China shipped about 14,400 robots last year, meaning shipments could rise nearly sevenfold in a single year on the back of government orders. Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree had produced about 18,000 units on a cumulative basis as of July this year.
