en.Wedoany.com Reported - Tesla recently issued specific procurement guidelines to suppliers for the next-generation components of its Optimus humanoid robot, requiring them to ramp up production capacity to 1,000 units per week by September 2026, and further increase it to 2,000 to 2,500 units per week by the end of the year.
Multiple supply chain sources revealed that Tesla typically places orders about two months in advance, and suppliers have already seen specific orders for several hundred units in August. Based on this estimate, Tesla suppliers will have the capacity to supply components for 100,000 Optimus units annually to Tesla by the end of the year.
Before issuing orders to the supply chain, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reviewed and approved the latest version of Optimus during an executive meeting at the end of June. This means that the Optimus Gen 3 humanoid robot, which has been in development for over three years, will move out of the laboratory and enter mass production. Two supply chain sources said that Musk demanded the team achieve production capacity targets by the end of the year during the meeting, or the entire Optimus procurement team would be fired. This requirement is seen as a stronger signal of confidence to the supply chain, capital markets, and the robotics industry than any orders or forward guidance.
On July 1, Musk posted a group photo on social media with a caption stating that he visited the Optimus humanoid robot production line at the Fremont factory. The Fremont factory, originally used to produce the Model S and Model X, has now been converted into a humanoid robot production line. In May of this year, the factory produced its last Model S and Model X.
When asked whether the recent reduction in public demonstrations of Optimus was due to mass production progress exceeding expectations, Musk responded that Optimus production will be very slow initially because everything is brand new, unlike car manufacturing.
When discussing Optimus 3 in March of this year, Musk described it as the most advanced robot in the world at that time. Regarding production capacity planning, he stated that low-volume production could start in the summer, with high-volume production beginning in 2027.
During the Q1 2026 earnings call in April of this year, Musk confirmed that Optimus robots would begin production at the Fremont factory in late July or August. However, he also noted that due to the entirely new production line involving approximately 10,000 unique components, initial Optimus output would be quite slow, and the production volume achievable this year could not be predicted.
