Supply Chain
2 related stories
Ball Screw Suppliers Await Tesla's Production Ramp-Up Amid Unconverged Humanoid Robot Designs
During Tesla's third-quarter earnings call, Elon Musk defended early production ramp-ups for Optimus despite unfinished hand designs, citing parallel progress in robot manufacturing, supply chain development, hardware design tweaks, and AI software. Meanwhile, Chinese ball screw suppliers are scaling capacity but waiting for actual downstream demand as humanoid robot joint architectures remain unsettled.
Tesla Begins Optimus Production; Musk Says Reaching 20,000 Units a Week Will Take at Least a Year
Tesla's third-quarter 2026 shareholder letter confirms Optimus has entered early high-volume production at the Fremont factory, marking the first units to meet mass-production quality standards, though the company notes that hardware and manufacturing processes will continue to iterate as it approaches commercial readiness.