Musk says China wants insurance on magnets for Optimus

Tesla The production of Optimus is tight by the trade war of President Donald Trump.

The production of the humanoid robot could face certain delays because Tesla deals with challenges, as convincing it of China that certain parts of the robot would not be used for military purposes.

Elon Musk declared during the call for results of the first quarter of Tesla on Tuesday that the production of Optimus “had been affected” by a problem of supply chain in China. He said Tesla uses rare earth magnets from China for actuators in the robot’s arms.

The problem is that China has recently started to demand an export license for certain elements of the rare land. Tesla also declared in the call of the profits he had tried to find an “alternative supply” for magnets in rare earths for years.

“Tesla as a whole does not need to use permanent magnets, but when something is constrained in volume, like a robot arm, then you want to try to make the engines as small as possible,” said Musk.

The CEO said that the magnets “simply go to a humanoid robot”, which is not a weapon system. However, magnets can be used for a range of purposes, including the construction of military weapons like missiles. For this reason, Musk said that China was trying to be convinced that all the magnets they provide in Tesla will not find their way in a system or an armed robot.

“China wants certain assurances that these are not used for military purposes, which, of course, is not,” said Musk.

Beijing recently interrupted certain exports of elements of the Rare Earth in response to Trump prices, which the president announced “Tuesday” on Tuesday “. In addition to having an impact on the production of Tesla optimus, the restriction could affect several industries according to the elements of the rare land, including car manufacturers and semiconductor manufacturers.

Musk said Tesla “works” through “the problem of the supply chain with China, and that it will get” a license to use magnets. He said he was convinced that the company would be able to solve the problem and produce thousands of robots by the end of the year. He also said Tesla expects to put Optimus “faster than any product” and is convinced that the car manufacturer will produce one million units per year “in less than five years.

This is mainly in accordance with previous projections. Musk said at a meeting of employees all hands last month that Tesla will hope, around 5,000 optimus robots in 2025, and it aims to have enough parts to make 10,000 or 12,000 robots.

Musk added during Tuesday’s call according to which “the production of Optimus will move as quickly as the slowest and least lucky component” involved in the product. As a new product, Tesla is dealing with “as 10,000 unique things” because it builds humanoid robots.

“Anyone who tells you that he can precisely predict the production ramp of a real product does not know what he is talking about,” said Musk.