TL;DR
Musk told investors that Optimus has no supply chain and that every part is new, as Tesla quietly dropped the mass-production language from the Q2 deck.
Elon Musk told investors According to Tesla’s second quarter earnings, Optimus “The most difficult product we make at Tesla,“a warning that the humanoid robot has no existing supply chain and that every component is new. It “properly calibrating people” based on expectations, he acknowledged that the initial production ramp will follow a normal curve, but with a flat early stretch that could take longer than investors had hoped. Tesla also quietly removed references to mass production of the Optimus from its Q2 shareholder presentation after using that language in the first quarter.
The reception marks a sharp change in tone from previous quarters. Last year, Musk said, “in shock” If Tesla did not produce 100,000 Optimus robots per month for five years, and in January 2025 predicted 50,000-100,000 units for 2026. Until January of this year, he admitted that zero Optimus robots were doing useful work in more than 3 thousand factories at the Tesla factory. And Gigafactory Texas collects training data instead of performing productive tasks.
Musk spoke candidly about the engineering hurdles and said Optimus would need at least human-level agility to be useful outside of controlled factory settings, calling for the human hand.something incredible” no robot company has been able to replicate. Tesla also has to solve memory, logic and chip packaging issues while sourcing AI processors from partners including Samsung and TSMC. The robot is made up of about 10,000 unique parts and Unlike its Chinese competitors, which can tap into the existing smartphone supply chain for actuators and precision motorsTesla is building its manufacturing base from scratch.
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The financial background increases the pressure. Tesla reported a 26 percent rise in second-quarter revenue to $28 billion, but adjusted earnings of 33 cents per share missed analysts’ expectations of 51 cents and operating income fell 57 percent. Capital expenditures increased by nearly $6 billion in the quarterPart of Tesla’s $25 billion full-year spending plan pushed free cash flow to negative $1 billion, sending shares down nearly seven percent in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Musk’s compensation deal ties part of his pay to the delivery of one million Optimus robots over ten years, which now sits uneasily against his own warnings about how difficult scaling would be. Tesla has repurposed its Fremont Model S and Model X lines for Optimus production, and is building a dedicated facility near the Gigafactory in Texas, but the company stopped short of promising when volume would begin. Tesla’s China president described the Shanghai Gigafactory as the “golden key” to mass-production Optimus.although that factory has not yet started the production of robotics.
