Tesla Optimus, Mass Production Preparation Intensifies

Tesla's stock price closed at $375.3, up 3.0%.

Although there has been no official announcement regarding Optimus, Tesla's robot component supply chain audit is actively underway in China, and the stock prices of some Chinese component companies have reacted to these audits.

Meta unveiled 'Muse', an AI that handles multi-step bookings and shopping on behalf of users, causing its stock price to surge by 11.3%.

Muse recorded 438,000 daily users within 10 days of its launch, and this agent-type AI is characterized by a higher proportion of general CPU usage than graphic chips.

The Tesla robot team visited robot component companies in China's Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, as well as Hangzhou and Shanghai areas.

This audit targeted three companies in the fields of drive systems, sensors, and thermal management components, and industry sources confirmed new robot parts orders and re-audits for existing suppliers.

According to a Bloomberg report, the main focus of this audit is to confirm production consistency and exclusive supply conditions.

With Chinese competitors like Xpeng beginning humanoid production, Elon Musk is pursuing a strategy to secure exclusive component rights, wary of competitors within China.

Initial audits, conducted from September last year to February this year, focused on manufacturing feasibility, including component cost and defect rates.

This audit centers on production line quality and regulatory compliance, suggesting that Tesla's design is finalized and that it is entering a mass production system.

To prevent competitors from thoroughly analyzing and imitating Tesla's videos, Elon Musk is adhering to a strategy of absolutely not disclosing any Optimus-related information until just before mass production.

Optimus production requires over 10,000 components, and the slowest component determines the overall production speed, making component supply chain management extremely important.

According to Reuters, the Czech Ministry of Transport, which had previously been skeptical due to concerns over speed limit compliance and driver monitoring, changed its stance based on experiences from adopting countries, additional data, and safety features.

Data showing a 40% reduction in collision accidents after FSD adoption in Australia and New Zealand was also released, suggesting that this case will likely increase the possibility of further approvals in Europe.

One component supplier, Sanhua, remained silent on whether Tesla conducted an audit but did acknowledge developing robot actuators with a large customer. Tesla aims to launch robots for its own factories this year and for external use next year.

Tesla had planned over $25 billion in capital expenditures this year, but only $8.2 billion was executed in the first half.

This means at least $16.7 billion (approximately 23 trillion Korean won) must be spent in the second half, more than double the amount from the first half.

Such massive investment suggests a potential increase in Optimus-related facility expenditures, and attention is focused on whether Optimus-related costs will be disclosed separately in the Q3 earnings announcement.