Elon Musk: Optimus Robot to Be Tesla's 'Biggest Product Ever' If Supply Chain is Solved
Tesla plans to manufacture its Optimus humanoid robot as its "biggest product ever," but production requires building an entirely new supply chain for AI chips and other components.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that the company's planned Optimus humanoid robot will be its "biggest product ever," provided that manufacturing challenges can be resolved. Musk emphasized during Tesla's second-quarter earnings call that scaling production of the robot will be more difficult for Tesla than any previous product, as every component on the robot is new.
Unlike electric cars, which can utilize existing automotive suppliers for parts like wheels and glass, the Optimus robot lacks a ready-made supply chain. Tesla will need to either develop new suppliers or manufacture components internally. A particular bottleneck is the availability of AI chips for scaling production, as well as constraints in memory, logic, and chip packaging.
While Musk mentioned that Samsung and TSMC are investing in semiconductor factories that could support Optimus and Robotaxi production, and that Micron has promised significant memory chip allocation, the initial production ramp-up will be "quite flat and long," according to Musk.
Tesla has already begun installing an Optimus production line at its Fremont factory, where Model S and X were previously manufactured. The first robots will be used internally for collecting training data and developing new capabilities. Production is expected to begin later this year, but a major concern remains the robot's reliability in field use.