Tesla AI chief Elluswamy reaffirms 10 million Optimus units/year target

Elon Musk has floated Optimus's long-run demand in the "billions of units" range on multiple occasions, but a concrete production-capacity number confirmed by the executive who actually runs the program is a different kind of signal than stage remarks.

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's VP of AI Software who has led the Optimus program since June 2025, posted a short correction on X last Thursday — "Correction, 10 million robots" — confirming the long-term annual capacity Tesla is building toward.

The buildout is happening in two phases. Phase one is at Fremont, where Tesla is installing a roughly 1-million-unit-per-year line on the floor space freed up by the discontinued Model S and Model X lines earlier this year. Phase two is a dedicated new facility at Giga Texas, which broke ground on its first steel structure in May and is ultimately meant to handle the 10-million-unit tier.

What stands out is how the number surfaced — not as a marketing line from a stage, but as a correction posted by the person actually accountable for hitting it, which reads as a stronger signal than the same figure delivered as hype.

Optimus still has no commercial revenue, though, and Tesla's own Q2 earnings just highlighted how robotaxi and Optimus capex (up 142% year over year) squeezed operating margin. Whether a target this large translates into real production and demand is something upcoming quarters will need to keep testing.