Tesla Starts Optimus Production in Fremont, Targets 20,000 Weekly

Tesla said in its third-quarter shareholder update that Optimus production has begun on high-volume lines in Fremont, California, describing the robots as “the first production-quality bots that we have manufactured.” Tesla stopped making the Model S and Model X earlier this year and converted those Fremont lines for Optimus. Musk told investors he expects output to climb to about 20,000 robots a week within roughly a year, which would put annual output near one million by late 2027.

What the Fremont line actually is

Tesla started manufacturing the Optimus humanoid robots on a production line in Fremont, California. By the end of the third quarter, the company’s capacity table listed robot production in California as an “early ramp”. A second Optimus site in Texas is under construction.

Musk called the work “early production” and warned the ramp will be slow and bumpy because a radically new product needs a supply chain built almost from scratch. A robot with roughly 10,000 components can only ramp as fast as its slowest part.

The 20,000-per-week target and what it hides

Musk still expects Tesla to reach about 20,000 robots a week within roughly a year, implying near one million a year by late 2027. Tesla did not give a Fremont production count, an installed annual capacity figure, or a customer-sales date. The company also did not disclose how many robots it has produced, what tasks they can perform autonomously, or how often they can complete tasks without human intervention. Tesla published no unit count, weekly rate, price, or customer delivery date for units leaving the line today. Musk expects deliveries to other companies around the end of 2027, but he did not say which companies or what the robots would do for them.

The financial tradeoff

Tesla’s research and development spending rose 69% to $2.76 billion in the quarter, and quarterly net income fell 43% to $787 million. Revenue stayed flat at $28.05 billion. Operating expenses increased 39% to $4.776 billion. Capital expenditures were $4.73 billion, and Tesla expects capital spending of $20 billion this year, down from a prior projection of $25 billion. Tesla stock fell more than 3% in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

How the market looks around Tesla

Global humanoid shipments topped 22,000 units in the first half of 2026, nearly four times the year before. AgiBot shipped about 9,700 and Unitree more than 7,000, together close to three-quarters of the market. Full-year humanoid shipments are projected to pass 50,000. Musk’s 20,000-per-week target implies annual output near one million, far exceeding that full-year projection. For a side-by-side look at evidence and specs, see the Optimus vs Unitree comparison or the industrial humanoid robots overview.

Tesla is developing an Optimus Academy where robots will practice tasks and generate training data. Musk said the highest-value use will be heavy industry and dangerous tasks.

Community skepticism and support

u/selflessrebel asked who Tesla would sell the projected 80,000-plus bots per month to.

u/jobfedron132 wrote that a prior Optimus demo was teleoperated and the robot fell over when the operator removed the VR set.

u/TenshiS defended starting production before the product is perfect, arguing a company cannot wait until a thing is perfect before marketing and selling it.

What we still don’t know

Tesla published no unit count, weekly rate, price, or customer delivery date for units leaving the line today, and the price page for Optimus Gen 2 / v2.5 lists no official retail or enterprise price. The company also has not said which Optimus generation is being built at Fremont, and autonomy versus teleoperation remains unresolved. Sources do not say what tasks current robots perform autonomously or how often humans intervene.

Musk said the design must be tweaked so the machine is safe, reliable and durable enough not to wear out after a month, and the AI needs a lot more training before Optimus can handle open-ended tasks.